


Enchanting the Enchanters

by hmmmaybenot



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, Friendship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-21
Updated: 2018-11-24
Packaged: 2019-02-18 02:55:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 25,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13090938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hmmmaybenot/pseuds/hmmmaybenot
Summary: Akashi and Furihata’s relationship through the eyes of Generation of Miracles.





	1. Midorima Shintarou

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is a combination of my two favorite things: Kiseki no Sedai and writing AkaFuri from other characters' point of view. Title was once again, a song by Amarante, because apparently, I have no creativity whatsoever when it comes to naming my own story. The first chapter was betaed by the awesome [breedafool](http://breedafool.tumblr.com/). Enjoy!

Midorima Shintarou knew he was not exactly what people would consider ‘normal’ and he could think up some of the reasons as to why:

One, normal people don’t listen to Oha Asa and carry lucky items on daily basis.

Two, normal people shoot basketballs from a long distance and miss.

Three, normal people are not part of Generation of Miracles.

And yet, besides not being normal, Midorima liked to think he was at least a normal friend. A good friend. The kind of friend who kept their promises. The kind of friend who, despite being told by Oha Asa that today was not a good day to be going out, still went, all the way to Kyoto, because he promised to meet his friend.

To meet Akashi Seijuurou.

Who was also not normal by the way.

  


* * *

  


Akashi put his shogi piece to its rightful place, effectively ending another round with him as a winner.

It was the third round. It was 3-0 to Akashi.

Midorima adjusted his glasses. Not at all disturbed by the fact that he just lost.

After all, he never won.

But he liked to think that one day he would, so until then, he just needed to keep trying.

Also, the time he spent with Akashi was always enjoyable. Enjoyable as in, it put his mind at ease somehow.

His friendship with Akashi was a bit hard to explain. Not that it was complicated, it was just.. different. They never talked much, or joked around, or had some fun that would result in booming laughter and cheery atmosphere.

It was peaceful and quiet.

And Midorima liked that.

“Another round?” Akashi inquired, resetting the game by putting shogi pieces to their proper place.

“Sure,” Midorima answered shortly.

Midorima was the one who lost but Akashi was always the one who tidied up.

Maybe it was his way to show his gratitude. Because when it came to shogi, no one (except Midorima) could put up with him without getting frustrated. Not even his boyfriend.

Speaking of Akashi’s boyfriend.. now he was exactly what people called ‘normal’.

Furihata Kouki was normal.

Too normal in fact. Too ordinary.

Midorima, just like everyone else who knew Akashi Seijuurou and Furihata Kouki, often wondered just.. _how._

How could _that_ even happen?

He was trying not to be rude here, but he couldn’t help but think that the attraction didn’t make sense. At all.

Okay, maybe Furihata being attracted to Akashi made sense.

But Akashi being attracted to Furihata?

He was curious but he never questioned it, and it was not because he was scared of Akashi, but because he knew it wasn’t his business (and because questioning it was just plain rude).

So he stayed silent, even when his other friends, other Generation of Miracles, sometimes talking about the couple when they were having a reunion once a month, before Akashi arrived (he always arrived last for some reason).

He stayed silent, and watched closely whenever he had the opportunity.

And everytime he saw Akashi and Furihata interacted, his _how_ was slowly being replaced to _oh._

_Oh, so that’s why._

And now that Akashi and Furihata had been dating for almost a year (they started dating in the middle of their second year of high school, they were now in the middle of their third year), Midorima came to a conclusion that their relationship _made perfect sense._

One of the things that Midorima notice was how Furihata seemed to understand Akashi completely, when not even Akashi understood himself that well.

Furihata was also a very kind and cheerful individual. He was a good influence to Akashi.

Now that Midorima knew this, he found the brown haired boy somehow charming and came to respect him a bit more.

“Your turn,” Akashi said without lifting his head, his focus fully on the shogi board before him, probably already thinking about his next move.

Midorima lifted his shogi piece and moved it to a place that he was sure Akashi was already predicted, before stopping his hand mid-air and turned his head to the buzzing sound at his left side. It was Akashi’s phone, and it was vibrating non stop.

“I think you got a call, Akashi.”

“I’m aware of that,” Akashi said, but he made no move to answer his phone, “but today is my day off and I don’t want to be disturbed.”

Midorima raised his eyebrows slightly. Akashi was doing it for him, wasn’t he? Midorima always knew, despite everything that happened in the past, Akashi was a good friend. But to ignore a phone call because he was in the middle of a not so important shogi game against him? It was another level of good.

He wondered if a certain person had anything to do with this.

“Also, Kouki said it’s rude to be on your phone when you are with friends.”

Hearing that, Midorima’s lips curved up a bit.

 _Of course_.

Of course _Furihata Kouki_ had _everything_ to do with this.

  


* * *

  


They had been playing shogi for five hours, when Akashi’s phone beeped. As far as Midorima knew, Akashi always put his phone on vibrate only mode, so for his phone to make a sound like that..

Must be from someone important, he mused.

Akashi paused the game and mumbled an apology. He took his phone and looked at it. It seemed that he just got a message. He opened and read it. His eyes widened upon seeing the content.

“Excuse me, I.. I need to make a call,” Akashi excused himself and went to another room.

Midorima thought he heard a slight tremor in Akashi’s voice. He couldn’t be sure though.

Ten minutes later, Akashi was back. But instead of sitting down and resuming the game, he spoke,

“I need to go to Tokyo right now, Kouki’s in the hospital.”

Midorima felt his heart dropped at the news.

“What happened?” He asked worriedly.

Akashi run his fingers through his hair and sighed, “He’d been feeling pain in his stomach lately and collapsed on his way home from practice today.. it was appendicitis apparently.”

“How is he right now?”

“Alert. He just had a small surgery and said he is feeling better now.”

Midorima breathed a sigh of relief. That was good.

“Do you want to come along?” Akashi asked.

“Yes.”

“Sorry to end our meeting abruptly by the way.”

“No problem.”

Midorima observed his friend’s movement. Not a hint of panic could be seen, which was good. Appendicitis was pretty common and not that severe, so there was nothing to worry about.

When Midorima was putting his jacket on, he noticed that Akashi was already opening the door and headed out.

“Akashi, your jacket,” Midorima called.

Akashi turned around instantly, “Ah, you’re right.”

He took his jacket and took off, Midorima followed behind him.

Okay, maybe Akashi was not that calm after all.

  


* * *

  


It was already evening when they finally arrived in Tokyo. During the hours they were sitting in the bullet train, Midorima could tell that Akashi was restless. When the train stopped at Tokyo Station, he moved so fast to the door, he actually forgot to take his bag with him.

It was the second time in the span of three and half hours that Midorima needed to remind him about forgotten items.

Akashi Seijuurou rarely forgot about such things.

And today, it already happened twice.

“Do you want to go home now? I’ll pay for your taxi,” Akashi said, glancing at his companion, his stride to the exit door not slowing one bit.

“Actually, I would like to go to the hospital with you.. if that’s okay?” Midorima asked instead.

Akashi was silent for a moment but in the end, he nodded.

  


* * *

  


It was another twenty minutes ride before they finally reached their destination, and Akashi was restless again. He kept doing things that made Midorima anxious, like tapping his finger on his thigh, or checking his watch every thirty seconds, or shifting on his seat for.. God knows how many times now. And judging by the glances he received from the rearview mirror, even their taxi driver seemed to notice this.

Midorima thought that maybe it was time for him to say something.

“Appendicitis is not that bad, you know.”

Akashi froze.

Midorima thought that maybe he just said something wrong.

“Yeah.. yeah, I know,” came the reply.

Akasih turned his head to look at his friend properly and gave him a small smile.

“Thanks,” he muttered.

After that, all those restless movements began to cease.

  


* * *

  


They were greeted by the sight of Furihata sitting up on his bed, munching what seemed like onigiri, and someone who looked like him (his older brother?) sitting on the chair beside the bed, playing some games on his phone.

“Sei!” Furihata said cheerfully and put down his food, upon seeing his boyfriend entering the room. He smiled even more when he noticed Midorima was also present.

“Midorima-kun! You came too.”

“Furihata,” Midorima nodded in acknowledgement.

After a moment, Furihata’s older brother (Midorima was sure that’s what he was) stood up.

“Think I will go to the cafeteria now. Call me if you need me,” he said to Furihata.

Furihata just grinned and gave him a thumbs up.

The older Furihata ruffled his little brother’s hair affectionately while also acknowledging both Furihata’s visitors,

“I leave him to you then, Akashi-kun and.. um-”

“Midorima Shintarou,” Midorima answered his unspoken question.

He smiled good naturedly and nodded, “Midorima-kun.”

“Yes. Thank you, Kyoya-san,” Akashi nodded as well.

After Furihata’s older brother left the room, Akashi sat down on the chair previously occupied by him, while Midorima sat on the sofa behind Akashi’s chair.

Akashi touched his boyfriend’s cheek with the back of his hand and Furihata leaned in almost immediately.

“How are you feeling?” Akashi asked softly.

“Mm.. going to the toilet was a bit of a challenge, but other than that, I’m fine,” Furihata paused, “sorry for worrying you,” he added regretfully.

Akashi shook his head, his hand was now holding Furihata’s own, his thumb stroking the knuckles in gentle motion,

“I’m just glad you’re okay,” he whispered.

Furihata touched Akashi’s hair with his other hand and swept the ones he deemed out of place to the side, and chuckled, “Me too.”

Midorima witnessed all of these from his place on the sofa, unsure what to feel or do. He felt like he was intruding such a private moment but at the same time.. could not really look away?

It was almost like, the two were _glowing_ and it made him feel all warm and fuzzy inside. It was a bit weird.

“My brother brought some snacks and drinks earlier.”

Furihata’s voice snapped Midorima from his internal musing.

The brown haired boy then rummaged through the shopping bag, took out a can of coffee, and gave it to Akashi. He repeated his action, took out another can of coffee and urged Midorima to take it.

Midorima received it and mumbled a quick thanks.

He noticed that the coffee was his favorite brand, and wondered when he ever told Furihata about _such thing_.

Half an hour later, it was decided that Akashi would stay at the hospital for the night and Furihata’s older brother would go home. The older Furihata offered Midorima a ride to his house, which he gladly accepted.

  


* * *

  


Midorima saw Furihata again three weeks after he visited him in the hospital.

Shuutoku were having a friendly match against Seirin, as a part of Winter Cup preparation.

Furihata didn’t play at all, only observing the game from the bench. He looked better now, Midorima thought, compared to the pale version of him that he saw at the hospital. It seemed that he was still recovering though. Seirin team captaincy was temporary handed to the second year’s power forward whose name Midorima didn’t even bother to remember.

After the match, Midorima came up to greet Furihata but apparently, the latter was in the middle of what seemed to be a pretty intense phone conversation.

“Yes, I didn’t play.. Not at all.. Yes, not even stretching.. Honestly, Sei.. Yes, yes, I swear. Now go back to your own practice and don’t worry about me.. Yes, I promise.. Okay, bye, love you!”

Midorima had this suspicion that the conversation would take even longer if only Furihata didn’t stop it like that.

Furihata gasped when he finally noticed the green haired boy’s presence.

“You scared me, Midorima-kun.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to sneak up on you,” Midorima said, nodding his head a bit in greeting.

Furihata sighed, “Did you hear.. all that?”

“I also didn’t mean to eavesdrop.”

Furihata chuckled a bit, “Your friend is such a worrywart.”

Midorima hummed, “Understandable, to be honest.”

Furihata chuckled again, “If you say so.. anyway good game today.”

“Yeah.”

“I’m looking forward to the real thing! We’ll definitely do our best!”

Midorima gave him a small smile. He felt determined too now.

“How are you by the way?” Midorima asked, changing the subject.

“Great! it would take two or three more weeks for me to fully recover though.”

Midorima only nodded at that. He then opened his bag, took out _something,_ and give it to Furihata.

“This is.. a little lion keychain?” Furihata asked, confused.

“It’s your lucky item for today.”

Furihata looked genuinely surprised.

“Good luck,” Midorima added shortly. He turned around and was about to leave, when he felt a tap on his shoulder.

Midorima turned halfway around. He saw Furihata beamed at him, his eyes sparkling.

“Thank you!” He said genuinely.

Midorima smiled (he couldn’t help it) and nodded again. This time as a gesture of goodbye.

  


* * *

  


It was on his way back home when he checked his phone and noticed that he had one unread message.

Midorima raised his eyebrows upon seeing the sender. He already had a pretty good idea about the content even before opening the message.

_Kouki really didn’t play at all today, right?_

And his guess was right, of course.


	2. Kise Ryouta

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was betaed by the awesome [breedafool](http://breedafool.tumblr.com/).

Kise Ryouta, for the most part of his life, always considered himself lucky.

He had a good family, good friends, and pretty good.. grades..

.. Okay, the last one was a lie. His grades were not the best (they were horrible), but he wouldn’t worry about them for now.

He was also good at the two things that he loved the most: modeling and basketball.

The first one was a real genuine job, as in, he truly made money out of it. And he had fangirls because of it. It was a big deal.

None of his friends seemed to care though. Everytime he mentioned about his modeling career, everyone just ignored him, brushing it off like it was just one of his many jokes.

It wasn’t, and if only they knew, and appreciated it a bit, he would have been more than willing to share his fortune. He would buy them food, buy them anything really, treat them as his best friend. He would be forever grateful because, _wow_ , someone actually paid attention.

Unfortunately, they never did.

Oh well, it was their loss, he thought.

The second one was probably the most important thing in his life right now.

Basketball was everything to him. It gave him friends, good ones. It gave him excitement and happiness on daily basis. Everyday was so much fun because of it.

Romance what? Basketball is love, basketball is life.

.. Why the sudden mention of romance? Because he had none at the moment and he was definitely not bitter.

He just thought about it sometimes..

But seriously, Kise Ryouta was not bitter at the lack of romance in his life. At all.

Ever since that.. _incident_ in middle school, when there was this girl that spread rumor that she was his girlfriend (who would later started going out with Haizaki instead), he had this mindset that romance was a nuisance and decided to never pursue romantic relationship with anyone anymore. For now, at least.

So for him, romance is dead. And once again:

_Basketball is love, basketball is life._

  


* * *

  


It was Sunday afternoon and Kise had just finished his photoshoot for the upcoming edition of the magazine he worked for. The theme was “A Date at the Amusement Park”, which was why, now that his work was done, Kise found himself wandering around at one of Tokyo’s amusement park.

The weather today was nice and the park itself was surprisingly, not very crowded. He still had some time before he needed to go back to Kanagawa, so he decided to entertain himself and tried some rides that were available.

He looked around, pondering which ride he should try first, when he saw a familiar figure.

Oh, he was wrong. It was two familiar figures.

The one with brown hair was looking at something that looked like a giant map, and the one with red hair was looking at.. his companion with- is that _adoration_ in his eyes?

 _Well_ , Kise thought, _if that’s not the most adorable thing ever._

He chuckled, and proceeded to go to greet them.

“Akashicchi! Furihatacchi!”

Hearing their name being called, Akashi and Furihata turned their head toward the voice. Furihata’s face lit up when he saw it was Kise who called him, while Akashi’s expression remained neutral.

“Good afternoon! Didn’t expect to see you here, Kise-kun,” Furihata greeted the yellow-haired boy with a warm smile.

Kise grinned, “Hello, hello! Long time no see Furihatacchi!” Kise paused, he then turned to Akashi, flashing him a bright smile, “and hello again, Akashicchi!”

Akashi just gave him a curt nod.

He and Akashi just met the day before, at the monthly GoM meeting, and Kise had this suspicion that his former captain was not thrilled to see him again so quickly, on the day when he was supposed to have a peaceful date with his boyfriend.

“You guys on a date?” He asked the couple.

“Yeah,” Furihata answered, “How about you? Are you here for a photoshoot or something?”

Kise’s eyes widened slightly, the question caught him off guard.

“How did you know?”

Furihata just chuckled, “You still had a bit of makeup on you.”

Kise blinked once, twice. Did he hear that right? Did someone finally _pay attention_? Did Furihata just-

“Ah.. did I guess wrong? Sorry if I-”

“No, no, you’re right, Furihatacchi,” Kise said, probably a bit too excited, “I just finished my photoshoot here. I’m surprised you knew.”

Furihata shrugged, “Well, you’re a model, right? So I thought..”

Kise fought the urge to hug Furihata tightly after hearing that (Akashi would never approve of such act), he was so touched by his simple observation. He was happy and grateful alright. He always respected Furihata but now.. now he respected him ten times more.

“Alright, it’s nice to meet you too, Kise,” Akashi finally spoke, interrupting the conversation between his boyfriend and his fellow Miracles, “now if you’ll excuse us, we would like to continue our-”

“Can I tag along?” Kise blurted without thinking.

Akashi raised his eyebrows at that, “Excuse me?!”

Kise folded his hands in front of his face and bowed slightly, “Please guys, I want to ride these attractions and it’d be super boring to ride them alone. I promise I wouldn’t interrupt anything, if you guys want to make out and do not want me to watch, just tell me and I would step aside and if-”

“Are you kidding me?!” Akashi hissed, cutting him off. He was about to comment about how absurd Kise’s request was when they heard a chuckle.

Akashi and Kise turned their head toward the voice and saw Furihata chuckling and shaking his head while doing so.

“What’s so funny, Kouki?” Akashi frowned.

“You two,” Furihata answered him shortly, his eyes full of humor. He then looked at Kise and smiled, “of course you could tag along, Kise-kun. The more, the merrier.. right, Sei?”

Akashi’s face filled with pure horror as he listened to Furihata’s suggestion, and Kise had to bit his lip to hold his snicker at that.

“Let’s go then!” Kise beamed. He draped his arms on Akashi and Furihata’s shoulder, urged them to move forward, in the direction of the ride closest to them. “I want you to be my best friend, Furihatacchi!” Kise said out loud.

Akashi made a face at the notion. Untangling himself from Kise’s hold, he then proceeded to do the same with Furihata and dragged his boyfriend away from his annoying friend.

Kise chuckled, and broke into a small run to catch up with the couple, “Hey, wait for me!”

  


* * *

  


Throughout the entire journey, Kise kept wondering about something. That something was the fact that Akashi was actually willing to wait in line on every ride. Akashi was rich and Kise was sure he could easily get some sort of pass card to take the rides without queuing up, _if he wanted_.

No, actually, he knew Akashi had a pass card, now that he thought about it. He went to this place with him and the rest of GoM before, when they were still in middle school. It was a good day, they managed to ride all the attraction because they didn’t need to get in the queue on every ride.

He was curious as to why Akashi didn’t use his pass card today, but he opted to not voice his curiosity, determined to figure out the answer himself.

The trio were now queuing for their fourth ride of the day. It was a roller coaster. According to Kise’s memory, it was the second scariest roller coaster in the park. He was pretty excited to be honest, it had been a while since he rode one. He looked at his two friends in front him when he noticed something unusual. Akashi was reading something on his phone. He was so focused, and while he still held Furihata’s hand tightly, he didn’t conversed with his boyfriend at all. This was the first time he-

_Oh._

It finally hit Kise. The answer to his question was right in front of him! How could he miss it?

Kise who always stood behind Akashi and Furihata in line on every ride they took, already noticed, from their very first ride, how _sweet_ the couple’s interactions were. They talked and exchanging warm smiles all the time. Sometimes Furihata told Akashi a joke and Akashi would chuckle and ruffle his boyfriend’s hair affectionately. Other times, Kise would look down at their joined hands and saw Akashi’s hand played with Furihata’s constantly. Everything that they both done when waiting in line was nothing but small affectionate gestures and it finally dawned on Kise that they were exactly the reason why Akashi let them all waited in queue:

Akashi didn’t want to miss _those moments_. He didn’t want to not share _small affectionate gestures_ with Furihata while queuing up. It really was as simple as that.

Kise thought he might die because this realization was too much for his heart. His two friends’ relationship was too damn adorable, he almost couldn’t handle it.

But then, he suddenly remembered about the anomaly of the situation right now. He looked at Akashi and found him still on his phone. If his hypothesis about Akashi cherishing moments was right, he should have put his phone down and talked to his boyfriend instead, like he did when they waited on their first three rides.

He glanced at Furihata and saw that the brown-haired boy didn’t look annoyed at all, despite the fact that Akashi was pretty much ignoring him. In fact, he looked slightly.. worried?

Kise finally looked over Akashi’s shoulder to see what he was reading on his phone (because he was very curious). He raised his eyebrows upon seeing the content displayed on the screen.

It was an article about how to ride a roller coaster without getting sick.

Another memory suddenly flashed through Kise’s mind.

But before he could mull over anything, he was ushered to get on the roller coaster by one of the ride attendants.

  


* * *

  


_“Are you sure you don’t want to ride this one, Akashi?” Midorima asked._

_Akashi who was now sitting on the bench, just nodded._

_“Ehh, why?” Kise whined._

_Akashi was silent for a moment before answering, “I’m just not really.. fond of roller coaster. Please go ahead without me, I’ll be waiting right here.”_

_Aomine, Momoi, and Murasakibara began walking away without questioning anything anymore, while Kise and Midorima looked at each other before they too, departing to follow their three friends._

_“Are you afraid of roller coaster, Akashi-kun?” Kuroko monotone voice made Kise and Midorima halt their movement. They turned around to see their blue-haired friend stared blankly at their captain._

_Kise saw Akashi’s eyes twitched at the question._

_“I am not,” Akashi said calmly._

_“You’re afraid,” Kuroko repeated his observation._

_There was this deafening silence following Kuroko’s words._

_And then, Kise watched in horror as Akashi closed his eyes and took a deep breath, clearly annoyed. Not good. He needed to act quickly or else.._

_So, before Akashi opened his eyes and decided to murder their friend, Kise and Midorima dragged Kuroko forcefully, far away from the angry captain._

  


* * *

  


After they finished the roller coaster ride, Akashi, whose face was already as pale as a sheet at that point, immediately rushed somewhere (probably the toilet), all the while mumbling something about ‘bad decision’ and ‘things one does for love’. Furihata, who seemed like he already expected this, tried to follow him but gave up after he couldn’t find him in the crowd. Akashi was just too fast sometimes.

Kise, who watched the entire scene played out in front him, was concerned as well but at the same time.. couldn’t help but chuckle a bit as he remembered a part of his memory from his middle school days.

_So that’s the reason why he is ‘not fond’ of roller coaster._

Furihata and Kise decided to wait for Akashi on the bench near the roller coaster entrance. The brown-haired boy looked at Kise with the expression of someone who just finished dealing with a stubborn child. A child who didn’t listen to a word he said, and now, the said child suffered the consequences because of his own stubbornness.

Which was probably exactly what was happening at the moment.

“I already told him not to force himself,” Furihata sighed, but Kise noticed, again, that he was not actually annoyed. In fact, a hint of affection could be heard in that statement. Kise wondered why but decided not to comment on it and gave Furihata an understanding smile instead.

Ten minutes later, Akashi was back, looking positively exhausted. He probably vomited his entire lunch and Kise couldn’t help feeling bad for his friend.

“How are you feeling?” Furihata asked his boyfriend, his tone full of concern. Akashi didn’t say anything and just plopped down on the bench, occupying a space beside Furihata, and leaned his head back.

Furihata touched Akashi’s forehead and cheek with the back of his hand to check his temperature. He then began to rub Akashi’s nape and back, trying to soothe him.

“I’ll get you some water,” Furihata said.

Akashi just nodded and slowly closed his eyes.

“Do you want anything, Kise-kun?” Furihata asked.

Kise shook his head, “No, I’m good.”

Furihata then walked away, trying to find the nearest vending machine. When he was no longer in sight, Kise decided to ask,

“Why?”

Akashi opened his eyes and glanced at his companion for a moment before answering, “Because Kouki loves roller coaster and I want to ride it with him.”

Kise was silent. He felt his heart grew warm at the answer. Like someone just put a blanket over his cold body. It was a good feeling.

“You’re going to try again?” It wasn’t really a question.

Akashi just chuckled, “Of course.”

Kise patted Akashi’s shoulder and gave him a genuine smile, “Furihatacchi is really lucky to have you, Akashicchi.”

Akashi hummed as if contemplating what Kise had just said. Then, he averted his eyes slightly to the right. Kise followed his line of vision and saw Furihata walking toward them, a bottle of water in hand.

Akashi locked his gaze at the figure who was coming to him and said, “You got it wrong, Kise,” he paused, his lips formed a soft smile, “it’s actually the opposite.”

Before Kise could react to that, Furihata was already in front of them. He gave Akashi the water and sat down beside him. He began to rub Akashi’s back again.

Faint screams were heard from afar. Kise’s eyes automatically looked for the source. Apparently they came from another roller coaster some distance away from him.

Kise noticed that Furihata was looking at the same thing as him. An idea formed in his mind.

“There’s still one more roller coaster in this park. It was even scarier than the one we just rode. If you want, I can accompany you to ride it, Furihatacchi,” Kise suggested.

Furihata turned to look at him, and shook his head, “Thanks for the offer Kise-kun, but I think I’m gonna stay here,” he gave Kise a small smile before continuing, “however, if you wanna go there, please do.. you could leave your belongings here, I’ll watch over them.”

Kise sighed. Should have expected it, really. He then grinned at Furihata and nodded. He decided that it was also the right time to leave the couple alone.

Kise strolled toward his destination, but a minute later, he stopped walking and turned around to see his two friends one more time. He felt like doing that somehow.

Furihata was now combing Akashi’s hair gently, murmuring something to Akashi while kissing his temple, and as Kise witnessed this, he thought about Akashi’s words that was spoken to him earlier.

Kise decided that he was not wrong.. but what Akashi said was also right.

They were lucky to have each other.

  


* * *

  


It was raining quite heavily when the trio decided it was time to go home. They walked to the train station slowly, careful of the slippery road. Akashi and Furihata walked under one umbrella (Furihata’s umbrella, because Akashi forgot to bring his, which, according to Furihata, happened way too often to be considered normal, it was rainy season _for God’s sake_ ).

Kise walked behind the couple, glancing up at his almost broken umbrella every now and then, making sure it stayed open to protect him (it needed tremendous effort to open and close the damn thing, but he always forgot to buy a new one, ugh).

Halfway through their journey, Kise saw Furihata turned his head to Akashi. He seemed to notice something and shook his head disapprovingly. He pushed Akashi’s hand that held the umbrella a bit to his boyfriend’s side. Apparently, there was part of Akashi’s shoulder that was on its way to become fully drenched because Akashi leaned his umbrella too much to Furihata’s side. Akashi looked at Furihata questioningly, but the brown-haired boy didn’t say anything, just nodded his head a bit, seemingly satisfied with what he had just done (though now, his shoulder was beginning to get wet too).

After a while, Akashi’s hand began to lean to Furihata’s side again, the umbrella protecting his boyfriend entirely just like before. Furihata glared at Akashi, who was still clueless, but he didn’t attempt to do anything anymore and after a while, just sighed in defeat instead. Maybe he realized that Akashi was doing the act unconsciously and there was nothing he could do about it. It was almost like a reflex.

A reflex to protect him.

And as Kise saw a soft loving expression began to form on Furihata’s face while he looked at the boy beside him, Kise thought that maybe..

Maybe it was too soon for him to assume that romance is dead.

  


* * *

  


After arriving at the train station and saying goodbye to Furihata (his house was not too far away from there, so he continued to walk home), Akashi immediately went to purchase a bullet train ticket while Kise waited for him near one of the vending machines. They agreed to have a coffee in one of the cafes and chat for a bit before going to their respective train platform, since according to the schedule, Akashi’s bullet train (the one with the most expensive ticket) would not board for another thirty minutes.

While waiting, Kise had been trying to close his umbrella. He really did. But it was futile.

_Come on, come on._

And that was when he heard a crack. He prayed it was nothing serious. The umbrella was closed now, which was good. He tried to open the umbrella again, just to make sure it was still functioning properly.

It wasn’t.

The umbrella opened up successfully but the shape was weird. Kise sighed.

_RIP. You will not be missed, my dear umbrella._

He tried to be positive. Maybe, it wasn’t raining in Kanagawa. He checked his phone and swipe it to see the weather forecast.

**Kanagawa: raining with a chance of storm.**

_Ugh._

He was about to go to a convenience store in front him to buy a new umbrella, when he felt a tap on his shoulder. It was Akashi.

“What’s wrong?” Akashi asked.

“My umbrella was broken, Akashicchi,” Kise answered mournfully.

Akashi nodded. He opened his bag and took out.. an umbrella.

Kise’s eyes widened in shock.

“You can use this,” Akashi said simply.

Kise was speechless. _What the actual hell?_

“But- but you said you didn’t-”

“A small lie for a greater good, Kise,” Akashi smirked, “don’t tell Kouki though.”

And then, Akashi did something that was so not-Akashi like, and Kise blinked a couple of times to make sure he wasn’t just imagining things.

“Akashicchi.. did you just- did you just.. _wink_?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually wrote another version of AkaFuri amusement park date ft. Kise some months ago, you can find it [here](http://cheersallthebestgodbless.tumblr.com/post/166435589465/at-the-amusement-park-furihata-sei-are-you) (it's also my tumblr, so if anyone wanna talk to me there, please do :D).


	3. Momoi Satsuki

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Betaed by the awesome [breedafool](http://breedafool.tumblr.com/).

Momoi Satsuki was aware of many things.

She was aware that she is good with data. Good at gathering it, good at analyzing it.

She was aware that she had, what people would describe as, an amazing body. Especially the upper part of it.

In a way, these two were good things.

Next, the bad ones.

She was aware that she had a big fat crush on Kuroko Tetsuya, but at the same time, she was also aware that it was one sided.

And contrary to popular belief, she was actually very aware of her almost non-existent cooking skill.

.. Now, here was the problem.

Her crush being one sided was bad, but combined with the fact that she couldn’t cook, well, the whole thing seemed to become so much worse. Because, you see.. there was this saying that the best way to win a man’s heart is through his stomach.

So, to sum up: as it stood, it was pretty much game over for Momoi Satsuki in the romance department.

.. Well, only in theory.

In reality though, Momoi refused to give up. Who cares about a dreadful cooking skill, she could always _work harder_. Who cares about Kuroko not returning her feelings, she could always _try again._

Because she is Momoi Satsuki, once the manager of the always amazing Generation of Miracles, and she was stronger and tougher than whatever people thought of her.

  


* * *

  


Momoi observed the variety of chocolates in front of her, not having a single clue which ones she should buy.

Chocolates. For Valentine’s Day. That happened to be tomorrow.

It was Saturday morning, and the store she was currently visiting was pretty empty. Give it an hour or two and well, Momoi was not sure she could leisurely walk around the place again. She imagined the store would be packed with girls that wanted to make last minute purchase.

It was actually a spontaneous decision on her part, to be giving chocolates to people this year. Being a basketball manager since middle school, Momoi always had something important to do on the day that she always forgot about the occasion altogether. And by the time she remembered, it was usually too late already.

Except maybe, that one time she actually remembered and attempted to make chocolate for Kuroko two years ago, which ended up being a disaster. She remembered Aomine’s face that sampled the final result, and while it was comical, she knew it would be wiser to just buy the chocolate next time.

And that next time was now. Her cooking skill may or may not have improved these days, since she began taking cooking lesson every two weeks for the past two months, but she didn’t want to risk it. She was now in her final year of high school and who knows if she could give chocolates to the same set of people again next year. It was her last chance and she simply didn’t want to leave a bad impression to those people.

The plan was to buy small-sized chocolates for all members of her school’s basketball team, medium-sized chocolates for the GoM, and the biggest and most beautiful one for Kuroko, obviously.

.. Except she didn’t expect the choice of chocolates to be this many, with all of them looked very pretty. Now, she was just confused. She should have researched them first.

Momoi sighed, and took her phone from her bag. She was about to google which types of chocolate would be the best for her needs, when she suddenly heard her name being called.

She turned around and found Furihata Kouki standing in front of her, a smile etched on his face.

Momoi was surprised for a moment before she too, gave him a smile in return and nodded in greeting.

“Hello Furihata-kun, what a pleasant surprise. It’s been a while,” Momoi said, genuinely. It really was pleasant to meet Furihata. She liked the guy.

“Hello,” Furihata greeted back. He then scratched his cheek with his index finger, a habit, Momoi noticed, that he did whenever he was embarrassed or nervous. Embarrassed or nervous about what, she didn’t know. Maybe that was just how he was.

Momoi still marveled sometimes, how this guy in front of her was the boyfriend of the great Akashi Seijuurou: captain of the infamous Generation of Miracles, captain of the mighty Rakuzan High, one of the most brilliant point guards in their generation, a true genius, king of shogi, a sole heir of one of Japan’s multimillion dollar companies, etc, etc.

And Furihata was just not Akashi’s boyfriend. He was Akashi’s beloved, the most important and most cherished boyfriend. The list of adjective that describe love and affection that could be put in front of the word “boyfriend” was almost as long as Akashi’s list of title and achievement. Seriously.

The pink-haired girl could go on and on, could write an elaborate essay really, when it came to describing the depth of these two’s relationship. After all, she was the first one to know about Akashi’s feelings toward Furihata, and she was an observant girl, and she also had an above average analytical mind. So, it was only natural that she kind of knew more, compared to anyone in their circle of friends. Even though she didn’t see them - or one of them - regularly like, let’s say, Kuroko, or Midorima.

Furihata came to stand beside Momoi and looked at the chocolates displayed in front of him, “Looking for chocolates to give tomorrow huh, Momoi-san?” He asked.

Momoi turned around again, her attention shifted to the same thing as Furihata, “Yes. You too?”

Furihata just gave him a small smile and nodded.

“For Akashi-kun?” Momoi asked. It was almost rhetoric, in a way. Of course the chocolate would be for Akashi.

But Furihata responded anyway. He blushed slightly before he nodded again.

“You two going to meet up tomorrow? After the GoM meeting?”

“Well.. I’m just going to drop by, I think. Tomorrow’s my parents’ anniversary. We usually never did anything special, but it was their 25th. They’ve been married for a quarter of century. And my brother and I thought it was definitely something worth celebrating. So.. we decided to give them surprise,” Furihata paused, “I’m going straight back home after I give Sei the chocolate.”

_Ah, so that’s why_ , Momoi thought.

The GoM usually arranged their monthly meeting via group chat. It was always difficult to schedule it every month, but they managed to choose a specific date when all seven of them could make it, eventually. This month though, the only date when most of them were available was the fourteenth, but they knew, there was no way Akashi could make it (Akashi was the only one who had a partner). They almost cancelled the whole thing before Akashi came online and said that he was also available on that date. Lots of teasing (and threats of blocking from Akashi) later, it was finally decided: the February GoM meeting would be held on Valentine’s Day.

Now that Momoi knew the real reason, she couldn’t help feeling bad for her former captain. Akashi must be disappointed.. but well, there was nothing he could do about it either.

“Your parents were married on Valentine’s Day?” Momoi questioned.

“Yeah.”

She chuckled, “That’s really sweet.”

“I know, right?” Furihata said, his eyes warm and full of affection. He seemed to adore his parents a great deal. After that, he cleared his throat and changed the topic, “Oh right, what kind of chocolates do you want to buy?”

Momoi sighed, “I don’t know, Furihata-kun. I want to buy more than one type for sure, since I’m going to give them to quite a lot of people but.. but I don’t know.”

“Why not making it yourself? It seemed easier to, you know, create them to your own liking..”

Hearing that suggestion, Momoi looked at Furihata and smiled sadly. She shook her head.

Furihata’s eyes widened. He seemed to realize something and began stuttering a string of apologies. Momoi thought it was really cute, how Furihata got flustered so easily over something so small and insignificant. She waved her hands and gave Furihata a grin, brushing it off. But the frown on the brown-haired boy’s face didn’t disappear. It seemed that he was seriously concerned about hurting her feelings.

_Furihata-kun is really kind, isn’t he?_

“How about.. how about we make them together, Momoi-san?” Furihata offered.

Momoi blinked, “Excuse me?”

“The chocolates. Let’s make them together!” Furihata repeated his offer, more enthusiastically this time.

Momoi tilted her head slightly, “You can make homemade chocolates?”

The brown-haired boy just chuckled at that, “No, of course not. Maybe I phrased that wrong.. I’m actually just planning to melt the chocolates, put them in the molds, and fill them with stuff.. like cookies and almonds.” He took out one of the molds from his shopping basket and showed it to Momoi. It was a basketball-shaped mold. He grinned proudly, “I thought Sei would appreciate a batch of chocolates that look like his favorite item, and..” Furihata put the mold back to his basket and took out another one, “Can you believe they also have a mold with the shape of shogi pieces? Is this store a child company of the Akashi Group or what?” Furihata huffed.

Momoi snorted at that, before erupting into fits of giggles, “That’s certainly.. unusual, no offense to the shogi fans by the way.”

Seeing Momoi’s reaction, Furihata began to laugh too, “Right?!”

It was such a nice feeling, to laugh over something so unbelievably silly and simple like this, Momoi thought. She liked Furihata even more now.

After they both calmed down, Furihata tried to convince his pink-haired companion again, telling her the cooking process would be simple and promised he would be there to guide her every step of the way. Momoi finally agreed to try whatever Furihata was planning, knowing she could always trust him. She then let Furihata help her choosing the chocolates, the molds, and other stuff before they went to the cashier to pay their respective items.

Furihata offered the kitchen at his house as the place for them to cook together, knowing that it was free to use all day today, since his mother was currently visiting their relatives in another town. Momoi just nodded at the suggestion, feeling very grateful already.

  


* * *

  


It was already noon when they arrived at the Furihata’s household. After exchanging brief greetings with Furihata’s father and brother who were in the middle of watching some baseball match on TV, they went straight to the kitchen and began to unpack their stuff.

Soon after, the smell of melted chocolates filled the kitchen. Furihata suggested that Momoi bought white chocolates for the GoM, so she could color them with oil based food coloring. The color would be different for each GoM. He said it would feel.. more special that way, because the chocolates were personalized.

Momoi was in the middle of coloring Akashi’s chocolate when he saw Furihata put some drops of essence to his melted dark chocolate.

“What’s that, Furihata-kun?” She asked.

“Coffee essence.. I don’t know if you noticed, but Sei loves coffee. Thought I’d put in a bit in the chocolate.” Furihata said while stirring his chocolate carefully.

“Oh, should I do that too? For Akashi-kun’s chocolate?” Momoi wondered.

“Please do, if you want.” Furihata stretched out his hand to give Momoi the essence.

Momoi was about to put the essence to her (now) red chocolate, when she realized something,

“Is this really okay? Isn’t this.. kind of your signature? The one that made your chocolate special?”

Furihata chuckled, “Don’t think too much about it, Momoi-san. I’m sure Sei would love to have two box of coffee-flavored chocolates instead of one.”

There it was again, Furihata’s kindness. It was almost as if..

“You only care about Akashi-kun’s happiness huh, Furihata-kun?”

Furihata shrugged, “Eh.. I don’t think it’s that deep? It’s just, if Sei’s happy then I’m happy too.. something like that?” He flashed Momoi a smile.

Momoi really didn’t know how to react to that. Furihata made it so natural and simple to the point she felt almost jealous. She wished she could be like that. Giving and receiving the kind of love Furihata and Akashi had for each other. Because it seemed amazing, and incredible, and lovely.

“Maybe one day,” she muttered, smiling to herself.

The whole process of cooking went pretty smoothly (mainly because Furihata was there). Furihata complimented Momoi’s skill, saying it really wasn’t that bad, and that Momoi should have more confidence in herself. She especially loved it when he commented it was a nice touch to put vanilla essence to the light blue chocolate, saying “the one who received it” would definitely be ecstatic. He also helped her making chocolates for her school’s basketball team (just melted milk chocolates put in the variety of small-sized molds) since he finished making his chocolate first.

When it was all done, they sampled each other chocolates, giving thumbs up at the same time because they all tasted good. After that, they put the chocolates in their respective boxes and wrapped them up with ribbons.

After they finished wrapping all their chocolates, Momoi and Furihata collapsed on the sofa in Furihata’s living room (Furihata’s father and brother were no longer there). Momoi sighed heavily. She was tired alright, but it was a good and satisfying kind of tired, and she was happy. She looked at Furihata who sat beside her. It seemed that he was feeling the same way. She took one of her boxes with a brown ribbon and used it to nudge Furihata’s arm gently.

“For you,” Momoi said shortly, gesturing to the box in her hand.

Furihata looked shocked. He gaped for a moment and began to blush.

“Ah, um..”

“Happy Valentine’s Day, Furihata-kun,” Momoi said, flashing him a bright smile, “And thank you very much for today.”

Furihata, still blushing, received the box with a slightly trembling hand. After a while, a smile began to form on his face as well.

“Thank you.. for this,” Furihata paused. He then looked up at Momoi, his eyes full of determination, “I’d make sure to give you something in return on White Day.”

Momoi just chuckled at that, and nodded, “Okay!”

They sat in comfortable silence after that, enjoying their well deserved rest, after an exhausting day.

Furihata took the box he wrapped earlier, and took a closer look at it “I hope Sei would like this,” he mumbled.

Momoi sighed and shook his head at that silly notion. A memory flashed through her mind.

  


* * *

  


_“You want me to do what, Akashi-kun?” Momoi furrowed her brows, because she thought Akashi’s request didn’t really make any sense._

_Just like the whole thing that happened that leading up to this conversation. Momoi was about to go home, feeling very exhausted after handling everything alone on the basketball practice today (the other manager couldn’t come because she was sick), when she suddenly saw Akashi, standing in front of Touou Academy, still wearing his Rakuzan uniform. She was taken by surprise because well, Rakuzan is in Kyoto, and this is Tokyo. But she reasoned, maybe Akashi wanted to meet Aomine. So, after they exchanged greetings, Momoi told Akashi to wait and took her phone from her bag to call Aomine, only for Akashi to shake his head at her and asked her to follow him because apparently, she was the one Akashi wanted to talk to._

_And now here they were, sitting on Maji Burger with Momoi still trying to understand what this was all about._

_“Could you give me.. Furihata Kouki’s data? Everything you know about him?” Maybe it was just her imagination, but Akashi looked nervous somehow. It was such a strange sight._

_“Furihata.. from Seirin?” Momoi questioned, making sure. Akashi nodded. Momoi paused for a moment before continuing, “I don’t know much about him, to be honest. But I’ll do some research if you want?”_

_Akashi nodded again, “Yes please, if it’s not too much trouble.”_

_Momoi hummed, trying to remember everything she knew about the Seirin’s point guard. Ordinary. Average skills. Seemed to be a hard worker, but other than that, nothing special._

_“What is it exactly, that you want to know about him, Akashi-kun, and why?” Momoi was silent after that, but then, her eyes widened slightly, “Does he posses some sort of hidden skills? Something like what Tetsu-kun has?” If that was the case, she was going to do the research alright, and immediately. It would be useful for-_

_“Everything. I want to know everything.. about him.” Akashi’s answer interrupted her thought, “And no, I don’t think he has hidden skills or anything like that.”_

_Momoi was even more confused now, “So... why?”_

_Akashi looked troubled, as if contemplating if he should answer the question truthfully or not._

_“I want to.. court him.”_

_His answer met with silence that stretched out for a full minute._

_“WHAT?” Momoi found her voice and slapped her mouth soon after, realizing it was too loud for everyone’s liking._

_Akashi’s eyes lowered. He seemed to be embarrassed too._

_There was silence again. Momoi was too shocked by this information. She didn’t expect this. At all._

_Akashi’s face fell, “Is it.. weird?”_

_Momoi snapped from whatever she was thinking about and quickly said, “No! No, Akashi-kun! Sorry. I was just surprised, is all.”_

_It was a lie, obviously. Because it was weird alright, very, but Akashi didn’t need to know that._

_They chatted for a bit after that. Akashi ended up telling Momoi the background story of how he fell in love with Furihata while she listened to all of it very carefully._

_After about twenty minutes, Momoi finally understood.. more or less. She agreed to help Akashi, but there was still one question._

_“Why don’t you ask Tetsu-kun? If it’s about Furihata, I’m sure he’ll know more.”_

_At that, Akashi just chuckled sadly, “Remember Ogiwara Shigehiro?”_

_Momoi was silent. Of course. Of course, she remembered. She then sighed._

_“Kuroko might forgive me about that.. and maybe about that time when I tried to stab Kagami’s face too.. which also involved Furihata-kun by the way, but I don’t know..” he laughed bitterly._

_She nodded in understanding. Kise told her about that incident with Kagami and well.. it was horrifying, to say the least._

_“It wasn’t really you though, was it?” Momoi offered, trying to comfort him._

_Akashi shook his head, “It was another side of me yes, but it was still me.. and Kuroko- I don’t know how he will react if he knew.. about this. You know how protective he was of his friends.”_

_Momoi felt nostalgic suddenly. Friendship was always Kuroko’s priority, above all else. Probably more than basketball itself. He was literally the one who saved their friendship from its broken state half a year ago._

_So yeah, Momoi completely understood Akashi’s concern, because it was true. Friends are Kuroko’s biggest treasure and she knew, he would be damned if he failed to protect them from Akashi.. again._

_Akashi exhaled, he looked tired somehow, “But I..” he began, looking straight on Momoi’s eyes, his expression serious, “I really like Furihata-kun.”_

_And then he smiled, the kind of smile that was warm, the kind of smile that reached eyes. And bowed slightly, all the while thanking Momoi for agreeing to help him._

_A month later, thanks to her intense research, Momoi began to see what Akashi saw on Furihata. All Furihata’s charms were subtle. His determination, his willingness to help. His kindness that was actually very overwhelming. Akashi was nothing but observant, and based on the story he told her, it was kind of inevitable he fell in love with the guy._

_And everytime Momoi saw Akashi’s eyes lit up when she shared new information about Furihata, she kind of thought, if Kuroko ever found out, he really got nothing to worry about._

  


* * *

  


“He will love it, Furihata-kun,” Momoi patted Furihata’s shoulder, “Because you are the one who made it.”

Furihata gave the biggest grin then and nodded at her response. Momoi promised herself, one day, she would definitely find this kind of love too.

  


* * *

  


Today was Valentine’s Day, and while everyone was busy spending the day with their significant other, Momoi was instead sitting on a bench, in the middle of a random basketball court, observing a basketball match before her.

The monthly GoM meeting usually began with friendly matches among them (sometimes even Momoi joined too) and ended with them catching up with each other at Maji Burger.

Yes. Maji Burger. Every single month. These guys were obsessed with the restaurant (not that Momoi was complaining or anything, she loved their onion rings).

So here Momoi sat, feeling impressed and proud by the seemed-to-be-never-ending skills of her six friends. It was such an incredible privilege, to see how all of them improving, every other month like this.

She thought it was a Valentine’s Day well spent.

Hours passed, without anyone noticing. Which was a common occurrence when the GoM was playing basketball. They were always like this. Because they were nerds. Basketball nerds.

It was late afternoon, when Akashi decided they had enough basketball for today. They gathered near the bench to rest for a bit, while Momoi handed them towels and water bottles.

“Please show some mercy next time, Aka-chin.. you made me work too hard,” Murasakibara whined.

Akashi frowned at that, “I never show mercy when playing, Murasakibara, and today was no different.”

”No, Murasakibaracchi was right,” Kise chimed in, “Today you are kind of..” he trailed off before his lips formed a smirk, “Oh, I think I know why.”

“What are you talking-”

“You are annoyed because you couldn’t spend this day with Furihatacchi,” Kise cheered. Why he seemed so happy, Momoi didn’t know. She assumed that Kise just liked teasing Akashi. She just hoped her yellow-haired friend was still alive at the end of the day.

The not-so-subtle snicker slipped from Aomine’s lips. And Momoi could see all of her friends were actually in the middle of suppressing their own as well (except Akashi of course).

Akashi just rolled his eyes at Kise’s comment but Momoi could detect a hint of blush forming on his face.

_Spot on,_ Momoi thought.

She chuckled and decided to help Akashi escaped from the unfortunate situation that befell him. She took out six boxes from her bag, and wordlessly handed them to her friends one by one.

All of them Miracles, literally all of them, looked at the boxes in their hand with an expression that seemed to be a mix of shock and horror.

Instead of being offended, Momoi just huffed, “Don’t worry, I made these with a friend, and he sampled the result, and he is still alive and well and kicking, up to this very second.”

The GoM glanced at each other awkwardly before they finally opened the box.

And upon seeing the content, they were stunned.

Murasakibara was the first to bite into his purple-colored chocolate.

“It’s good, Sacchin,” he commented shortly, taking another bite of his chocolate.

“Really?” Momoi brightened up. She knew the chocolate was definitely edible. But to hear it being complimented by the one who received it.. well, it made her even happier.

After that, the rest of her friends took a bite of their respective chocolate, and judging by their expression they seemed to have the same opinion as Murasakibara.

“These look beautiful too, did you really make them yourself, Momoi?” Akashi asked, taking a closer look at his red chocolates.

Momoi gave Akashi a sheepish smile, “They’re not exactly homemade, and I was getting a lot of help.. but yeah, I cooked them myself.”

“Thank you for these Momoi-san. Let me know if you want anything for White Day, and I will personally deliver the item to your house,” Kuroko said, giving Momoi one of his rare, genuine smile.

Momoi’s heart skipped a beat at that, and she flushed. She lowered her eyes, feeling overwhelmed. She then nodded weakly.

Her other friends chimed in and promised her the same thing. Even Midorima gave her a small smile and told her to expect the delivery of her lucky item on White Day.

Momoi looked at her friends one by one. All of them looked grateful, and happy, and her eyes started to water. She wiped them away quickly. She was grateful and happy too.

“Ah.. it’s always good to spend Valentine’s Day with friends, isn’t it?” Kise mused out loud.

“You speak like a virgin,” Aomine responded suddenly, with his usual bored tone.

Kise was taken aback, “I’m sorry Aominecchi, but I don’t see any con-”

“Spoken by the true virgin himself,” Midorima commented dryly, adjusting his glasses.

Aomine’s eyes widened before he turned and faced Midorima, “I don’t remember anyone asking your opini-”

“Eh.. what’s wrong with being a virgin?” Murasakibara joined the nonsense conversation, while his hand moving to take one of Kuroko’s chocolates, “Ouch,” he flinched, after Kuroko slapped his hand away.

Aomine and Midorima ignored him and continued to bicker over something else.

Momoi shook her head, her lips curved up a bit. _Some things never changed._

Then, all of sudden, Akashi excused himself. He glanced at his phone before he made an abrupt exit. The topic of virginity forgotten and Aomine and Midorima’s fight came to a stop. All attention were on Akashi, who broke into a run a while after he went outside the court.

It was some distance away but Momoi could clearly see that Akashi was running toward someone, who seemed to be waiting for him.

She smiled to herself. It was Furihata.

From her position, Momoi could only saw Furihata’s face and not Akashi’s. Furihata gave his boyfriend a box she recognized as his chocolates for the redhead. He looked nervous. Akashi took the box and seemed to say something that made Furihata blushed. He said something in return and after that, he kissed Akashi’s check. He was still blushing when he retreated. He then turned away, and about to go back home (Momoi remembered Furihata said he was just going to drop by), when all of the sudden, Akashi pulled him back.. and kissed him on the lips.

Momoi looked away at an instant, feeling her cheeks started to get warm too. She just intruded privacy, didn’t she? She looked around her, and found her friends were in the same condition. They looked at each other, neither of them said anything, the atmosphere very awkward.

They seemed to be in mutual agreement, to not comment about the scene they just witnessed, and chose to do something else instead.

Momoi scrolled on her phone randomly, not exactly seeing anything and was distracted.

Some minutes passed and Momoi took a glance at the couple again, hoping that what she would see was Akashi running back to the court..

Only to find that her former captain and Furihata were still kissing.

_Okay, that was-_

“Akashi-kun is definitely not a virgin,” Kuroko commented suddenly, interrupting her thought. Momoi could clearly heard a hint of amusement in his monotone voice.

The awkward atmosphere broke and replaced by chorus of laughter after that. Even the usually stoic Midorima chuckled.

_Never change, Tetsu-kun._

It was actually pretty silly, this entire situation. Momoi hoped they were not being too rude, but it was fun and nice to be laughing together like this.

A Valentine’s Day well spent indeed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I always have a soft spot for KuroMomo, they're cute.


	4. Murasakibara Atsushi

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to [breedafool](http://breedafool.tumblr.com/) who was willing to read this chapter and gave encouragement despite her busy schedule ;-; Thank you for your never ending support breebree!

Murasakibara Atsushi knew what everyone thought of him. They thought his entire existence revolved around snacks.

Which was true.

Or he hoped it was. It would be heaven if he could literally spend his life to only eat snacks. To only care about snacks.

But life turned out to be more complicated than that.

Somehow along the way, he stumbled upon basketball and found himself enjoying it. Then, he stumbled upon multiple friendships with people who enjoyed the same thing as him.

So now, he must grudgingly admitted that there were three things that he cared about: snacks, basketball, and friends. He wanted to say that these three held different percentage. Snacks were number one. Would always be a top priority. He cared about them 98 percent. Basketball and friends, well, 1 percent each.

He knew it wasn’t exactly the truth though.

 

* * *

 

If he was in any normal situation, Murasakibara might appreciate the beauty that was Kyoto a bit more. He was never into aesthetics in general, but he knew that the city was exceptionally beautiful, what with its old, traditional atmosphere and all.

But Murasakibara was not in normal situation at the moment, because he was currently.. lost.

He was in the middle of a school trip and was in the middle of walking around with his group, when he saw an ice cream stall. A quick glimpse of the menu and the next thing he knew, his legs were automatically moving to the direction of it.

The time he spent deciding which flavor of ice cream he should get seemed to be his downfall. Because by the time he successfully bought the ice cream, he realized that none of his friends was around anymore.

He was still calm at that point. He dug his pocket and took out his phone, only to find it was dead. Now this, this one made him stop licking his ice cream.

So here he sat, on the bench, in the middle of nowhere. Waiting for someone, anyone, to get him. Surely there was at least someone who noticed he was gone? He was gigantic, and had purple hair, and not Kuroko, surely him missing from the group was noticeable?

He entertained the idea to just call the taxi and went back to the hotel by himself. But for the love of God, he didn’t remember the hotel’s name nor its address. The information was stored on his phone.

Wandering around and trying to look for his friends was also not an option. He might not be the brightest when it came to intelligence, but he knew the best way to do when someone is lost is to stay at one place.

He knew what he could at least do. Borrowing a phone charger. That way, he could contact his friend to come and get him. But borrowing a phone charger from who? And plugging it to where? He was far away from a station, or bus terminal, or any kind of public place.

He already tried asking the employee of the ice cream stall he visited earlier, but none of them had the kind of charger he needed. He hadn’t make any progress since.

He noticed there was a park, but it was pretty far from he was currently located, so he dismissed the option.

… But it seemed there really was no other option at the moment.

Murasakibara sighed. He stood up and began walking to the park. Hoping against hope he could charge his phone, or, if he was lucky enough, would collide with someone he knew there.

After five minutes of walking, he finally arrived at the park. It was a pretty big park but it wasn’t very crowded; he could see that it was mostly just some families and young couples having a picnic, or strolling around enjoying the weather.

Murasakibara observed his surroundings and spotted a boy that seemed to be his age, who was currently sitting on the ground covered blanket. Perfect, Murasakibara thought, maybe he could asked him about—

_Wait a minute._

He walked closer to see the boy better because he looked familiar. And upon closer inspection, he finally realized who he was. The boy had his back on him so he didn’t notice Murasakibara standing behind him but then,

“Murasakibara?”

_… Of course._

If this boy was here, it only made sense that _he_ was also here.

Murasakibara turned around to acknowledge the one who called his name and came face to face with Akashi Seijuurou, who tilted his head in confusion, “What are you doing here?”

 

* * *

 

As it turned out, the boy whom Murasakibara spotted earlier was Furihata Kouki. He and Akashi were in the middle of a picnic date when Murasakibara came across them.

Upon finding out that it was Murasakibara who stood behind him, Furihata immediately stood up and greeted him with a pleasant smile. He then urged him to sit down and join the picnic.

To be completely honest, Murasakibara didn’t really know Furihata. He did hear stories, from the likes of Kuroko, or Momoi. They were usually revolved around his kindness and how he was a good match for Akashi. But as far as he remembered, they never really talked. That was why, it surprised him a bit when Furihata talked to him, almost casually, when they greeted each other earlier. Not that it was a bad thing, he was just curious.

After he was settled on the ground, Akashi who just came back from the toilet, sat as well. He was about to repeat his question when Furihata, once again, cut him off by offering a plate full of onigiri to him, and to Murasakibara too. Akashi sighed, but he still smiled and took one onigiri in the end.

Akashi was smitten, wasn’t he? Murasakibara thought as he witnessed Akashi throwing not-so-subtle glances to Furihata like, every five seconds. Not that it was news. Aomine blatantly said the same thing straight to his face at one point, and Akashi didn’t even try to deny it.

As for Murasakibara, it was rude to reject such offer, right? So, of course Murasakibara took the food. A bit too enthusiastically.. maybe (it had been a stressful day, alright), but neither Furihata nor Akashi commented on it.

After shoving a whole ongiri to his mouth, Murasakibara decided to answer Akashi’s question about his current situation.

“So.. you are lost?” Akashi asked slowly, once Murasakibara finished explaining what was happening to him.

Murasakibara nodded. “So it seems.”

“And your phone is dead?” Akashi asked again. “That’s really unfortunate.”

“I know right~ this sucks.”

“But I’m afraid none of us has the kind of charger you are looking for, Murasakibara-kun.” Furihata added, his voice was tinged with a hint of genuine worry. “Do you remember any of your friends’ phone number? Or their email? I can contact them for you.”

Murasakibara shook his head. He was never good at remembering something like that.

“How about Himuro-san or uh.. Liu-san?” Furihata offered.

He shook his head again. “School trip is only for the second years.”

Murasakibara knew he was screwed. Totally. So he took another onigiri and ate it. Food was always a good stress reliever. For him, at least.

After a brief moment of silence, Furihata suddenly smirked.

“I think I know who to contact.” He said cheerfully while fishing his phone from his pocket. “Fukui-san has a brother who is also a second year at Yosen.”

At the mention of his ex-teammate, Murasakibara paused at his quest of (practically) inhaling the onigiri. “You knew Fuku-chin?”

“You called him that?” Furihata chuckled without looking up from his phone.

“Eh~ I think I used to call him in a more formal way? I don’t remember when or why it changed though.”

“I see.” Furihata grinned. “Well, I know him just a bit, we are friends on Facebook.. He shared many great memes.” He added, amused. “I’m sending him a message right now.”

Murasakibara smiled slightly. That was Fukui for you alright.

“Do you talk to him, Kouki?” Akashi asked suddenly. Maybe it was just him, but Murasakibara thought Akashi looked a bit.. how should he say it.

“Sometimes.. mostly me commenting on the memes.” Furihata tapped his chin thoughtfully. “I think we talked about point guard stuff as well, a couple of times.”

“You talked about point guard stuff?”

“Yeah.”

Akashi paused and looked at the onigiri on his hand. “Even though, your boyfriend is a point guard?” He mumbled.

Murasakibara couldn’t really believe his eyes. Was this guy.. sulking? Akashi Seijuurou? Sulking?

_Wow._

Furihata looked distracted though. “Sorry Sei, you were saying?”

“Nothing.”

Akashi’s tone was calm but anyone who actually saw him said the word could detect he really wasn’t.

Murasakibara bit his lip to stop from snickering. This entire exchange was gold. Truly.

“Oh you’re lucky Murasakibara-kun, Fukui-san is actually in Kyoto right now. He already contacted his brother. He said he is coming here to pick you up and take you to his brother’s location.” Furihata informed him.

“Huh? Why would he do that? He could just tell me the location and I could go there on my own.. I think.”

Furihata chuckled. “He said it’s been a while since the last time he saw his ‘favorite junior’. His words by the way, not mine.”

Murasakibara rolled his eyes. Fukui and his antics. “.. Right.”

He then glanced at Akashi, who looked.. tense, somehow. An idea formed in his mind.

“Or maybe, he wanted to see you, Furi-chin.”

The effect of these words was immediate. Akashi sat up straighter, his expression totally alarmed. He shifted closer to Furihata, his stance in full defense.

Murasakibara coughed to mask his laugh. To be able to tease Akashi like this, what a time to be alive.

Furihata, who seemed to be unaware of the change of atmosphere just frowned. “What? Why?”

“Eh~ I don’t know.” Murasakibara drawled.

Furihata furrowed his brows in confusion but didn’t make further comments, and the trio continued to eat in silence. Murasakibara didn’t miss the slightly menacing aura that was coming off from Akashi. The kind of aura someone gave off when waiting for their opponent to strike them and honestly, he almost felt bad for teasing him earlier. Almost.

Not long after, Furihata excused himself to buy more drinks. He asked his companions if they wanted anything and took off immediately after receiving the answers.

“What is it?” Akashi asked suddenly, once Furihata was out of sight.

Murasakibara frowned at that. “What do you mean?”

“You keep looking at me weirdly. Don’t think I didn’t notice.”

_Well, of course._

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Aka-chin.” He shrugged. Oh, he had an idea alright, but he wouldn’t tell him. Obviously.

Akashi narrowed his eyes suspiciously before finally huffed. “Fine.”

Another silence stretched out between the two, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. Murasakibara realized it had been so long since the last time he sat together with Akashi like this, without their friends around. It felt nostalgic somehow.

Murasakibara resumed eating the onigiri slowly. He and Akashi made small talk sometimes but it never last long. It just never their nature to talk much. Akashi was just quiet in general and Murasakibara was always too focused when eating his food.

After about fifteen minutes, Akashi suddenly muttered to himself. “What took Kouki so long?” He checked his watch and dug his phone from his pocket. He then proceeded to dial a number and pressed his phone to his ear.

Murasakibara observed how Akashi’s expression morphed to one of worry each passing second spent waiting for Furihata to pick up his phone. When he faintly heard a voicemail came out from Akashi’s speaker, his former captain stood up and looked at him seriously.

“I need to.. find Kouki, could you.. watch over these?” Akashi gestured vaguely to his and Furihata’s belongings on the ground.

Murasakibara was actually skeptical about Furihata’s whereabouts. He was quite sure the guy was fine, maybe he suddenly wanted to pee so he needed to visit the toilet. But then again, he wasn’t Akashi who, according to Momoi, ‘loves Furihata to the moon and back’, so in the end, instead of voicing his opinion, he just nodded obediently. Akashi thanked him with a tight smile and started walking quickly to search for Furihata. He saw Akashi’s figure slowly disappeared from view and sighed. Today was a long day, wasn’t it.

He had enough of onigiri and with nothing to do, Murasakibara observed his surroundings. He realized the park was getting more and more crowded. It seemed the place was pretty popular after all. When he turned his head to the right, he spotted a familiar figure coming towards him.

“Oi oi.” Fukui Kensuke came to a stop in front of Murasakibara and greeted him with a big grin. He arrived pretty quickly. Murasakibara couldn’t help but wonder just where he was when Furihata contacted him earlier.

The purple-haired boy looked thoughtfully at his senior’s appearance. His hair was shorter and his complexion was darker now, but other than that, he didn’t change much. Especially his height (which he never stopped complaining about, back in high school).

“Fuku-chin.” Murasakibara gave the older teen a slight nod and gestured for him to sit down.

When Fukui finally settled, Murasakibara explained the whole situation to him. Fukui nodded his head in understanding and told him that he didn’t mind waiting until Akashi and Furihata came back before they both departed.

Fukui then asked him about everyone in the Yosen basketball club, in which he answered with either ‘fine’ or ‘good’. He hoped it didn’t come off as rude but in his defense, he really didn’t know about everyone’s well-being in detail. Also because he was already bored at this point.

Decided to relieve himself before he left, Murasakibara asked Fukui to watch over everything on the ground while he went to the toilet.

As it turned out, his destination was some distance away from he was currently located, so he walked carefully while memorizing his way back, just in case. It wouldn’t be even funny anymore if he was lost again.

Halfway through his journey, Murasakibara saw a group of people who acted weirdly near a vending machine. They seemed to be in the middle of a.. fight?

He walked closer and realized who they were. There was Akashi. Behind Akashi was Furihata, who clutched Akashi’s shirt desperately. His face was bruised and there was trace of blood coming out from the corner of his mouth. Lastly, there were two people lying on the ground.

Murasakibara stopped in his track when he saw one of Akashi’s eyes had turned gold.

_Oh no._

_“Is this the hand that hurt Kouki?”_ Akashi’s voice was ice cold, his foot touching the right hand of one of the guys who were lying helplessly in front of him. The guy whimpered.

Furihata was trembling as he shook Akashi’s shoulder. “Sei.. Sei, that’s enough..” He pleaded.

But Akashi didn’t seem to listen, his entire being shaking with rage. Just when he lifted his foot to stomp on the hand, Furihata closed his eyes and cried,

_“Seijuurou!”_

Akashi’s eyes widened and he immediately stopped everything he was doing. His foot was slowly touching the ground again.

Furihata turned Akashi around so they were standing face to face, and cupped Akashi’s cheeks.

“Calm down.. it’s okay now, I’m okay.. I’m alright, Sei.” Furihata whispered. He stroked Akashi’s cheeks with his thumbs. His lips curved up a bit to emphasize his point.

After hearing those words, Akashi began to relax. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them, both eyes were red again.

Akashi touched Furihata’s injured jaw with his fingers gently and hissed. “You are hurt.”

Furihata just shook his head. The two were now trapped in their own world, trying to comfort each other.

Murasakibara took this moment to come up to the two guys who were still struggling to even sit up and crouched down to their level. One look and he knew they were legit thugs.

“If I were you I would take the opportunity to run _right_ _now_ and re-think my decision of being absolute trash in the society.” He said, venom dripping in his voice.

The two guys immediately scrambled to their feet and despite their conditions, managed to run quickly. Murasakibara stood up and sighed.

“Murasakibara-kun?” Furihata called his name, confused. Murasakibara looked at him curiously. “Wait, if you’re here then wh–“

“Fuku-chin already arrived, Furi-chin.” Murasakibara said, answering Furihata’s unspoken question. “I’m on my way to the toilet. You two should go back, I’ll buy something on my way back.. for that.” He pointed to Furihata’s bruised face.

“Thank you, Murasakibara.” Akashi nodded slightly to show his gratefulness.

“No problem. Also..” Murasakibara slowly smirked. “Good job back there, Aka-chin.”

Akashi didn’t comment on that. He just gave his friend a small smile. He then held Furihata’s hand silently and together, they went back to their picnic spot.

 

* * *

 

When Murasakibara was wandering around the convenience store, he couldn’t help but thought about the previous event and found himself.. surprised.

Furihata actually managed to calm Akashi down. And it wasn’t just Akashi.

He managed to do it to the other Akashi as well.

 _That Akashi_.

The one with heterochromatic eyes. The one who claimed to be absolute. The one who told everyone to ‘know their place’.

And he did it with only simple words and a couple of touches.

Murasakibara thought back on his middle school days. Especially the days when friendships stopped being relevant among Generation of Miracles. They were too caught up with their own, personal issues back then, they actually forgot to take care of each other like they used to do.

Deep in his heart. Murasakibara knew that it wasn’t only Kuroko and Momoi who were affected by this. Every single one of them was hurt too, one way or another. Including Akashi.

_Especially Akashi._

He already had so much pressure being an Akashi and he was their captain. He was the leader. Murasakibara couldn’t imagine how it felt to witness the team and friendships he treasured so much crumbled right before his eyes.

And he was pretty sure it was one of the reasons why Akashi’s other personality appeared in the first place.

… Also, there was this fact about how he was the one who _triggered_ it.

Yes, Murasakibara still remembered about that incident. That one-on-one match he had with Akashi in middle school. It was the first time he saw Akashi’s eye turned gold and it was.. terrifying. He remembered it so well like it was yesterday, and to be completely honest, he still felt guilty about it, somehow. Not much now, but the feeling was still there, lingering just past his consciousness. He knew it wasn’t exactly his fault, but it was just.. the knowledge of him actually _hurting_ Akashi bothered him to no end.

Because contrary to popular belief, Murasakibara Atsushi _cared_ about his friends.

He found the ice pack and put it to the basket. As he looked at the item, he had this silly thought about how he wished Furihata was there too back then. Maybe, just maybe, with him there, he could ease Akashi’s pain, even for just a little bit.

But it was all in the past. Things were better now, Murasakibara thought. He remembered Midorima once said Furihata’s existence was kind of a blessing and didn’t get what that mean.

Well, he understood the sentiment completely now.

He added some more stuff to his basket (including a bunch of Maiubo) and went to the cashier.

 

* * *

 

“I didn’t mean to stomp on their feet, I swear, and I already apologized like a thousand times.” Furihata told Murasakibara, as he pressed the ice pack to the bruised part of his face.

After arriving at the picnic spot, Murasakibara immediately gave Furihata stuff to treat his injury while asking him to tell the story of the incident earlier.

“Next time I knew, one of them punched me in the face, followed by the other who kicked me in the stomach.” Furihata then chuckled sadly. “I couldn’t defend myself, I was so lame.”

Murasakibara noticed how Akashi’s fist clenched tightly when he listened to his boyfriend’s story and decided to comment. “You know it wasn’t your fault right, Furi-chin? They were thugs, bullying people is what they do.”

“Still..” Furihata sighed. He turned to Akashi and smiled. “Oh well, I’m glad you came Sei, thank you for protecting me. Also you should teach me those moves, you were so cool when you beat them up–I mean, uh–uh.. yeah.” He finished lamely and blushed.

Akashi’s eyes widened at the declaration and slowly softened not long after. He smiled back, his hand reached up and ruffled Furihata’s hair gently.

Akashi didn’t say anything but one look at him and anyone–literally anyone–could tell how much he adored Furihata. It was that obvious.

Murasakibara shifted his attention to Fukui who sat beside him and found him stared at the two in awe. Well, he didn’t blame him.

“Oh! Maiubo!” Furihata suddenly said when he spotted the snack among Murasakibara’s stuff that he bought earlier.

“Yes~” Murasakibara confirmed. He took one Maiubo and teared the wrapping apart, eager to eat it.

“Sei told me about how Maiubo is your favorite.” Furihata commented cheerfully. “They’re good stuff, huh? Remind me of my childhood. I used to eat them a lot with my friends.”

Murasakibara wondered if Furihata would tell him how it was childish to eat Maiubo next, just like most people. Not that he would care.

“I feel like I’ve known you for a long time.” Furihata added with a big smile.

Murasakibara almost dropped his Maiubo, Furihata’s simple words caught him totally off guard. Right then and there he understood why Kise once said he wanted Furihata to be his ‘best friend’.

Because he was kind and just so very genuine, it warmed Murasakibara’s heart. He wondered if that was why Furihata seemed so casual around him even though they barely talked.

 _Wow_. Murasakibara found himself silently exclaimed the word twice now.

Slowly, he took another Maiubo from the plastic bag and held it. With a smile of his own, he gave it to Furihata.

He was aware of how Fukui’s jaw dropped and Akashi’s eyes blinked a couple of times at this gesture, because they knew Murasakibara Atsushi _never_ shared his food.

He ignored them though, and instead focusing on Furihata’s reaction, who was surprised for a moment, but took the treat gratefully soon after with a grin.

A guy with such plain features, a bruised face, and an Maiubo in hand would normally look weird, but Murasakibara thought, right now, Furihata looked really cool.

 

* * *

 

On their way to the desired destination, Fukui told Murasakibara that Furihata met the thugs at the third vending machine he visited because he couldn’t find Akashi’s favorite brand of coffee at the first two.

“He is too kind, isn’t he? He could have just told Akashi and he wouldn’t mind Furihata buying him another brand, I’m sure.” Fukui said thoughtfully.

It was so typical of him, Murasakibara mused.

“Man, how I wished I have someone like Furihata as a partner.. Or even better, do you think Furihata like an idea of harem?” Fukui chuckled good-naturedly.

Murasakibara took another Maiubo from his bag and bit into it slowly. “Aka-chin would kill you if he heard what you just said.”

Fukui automatically laughed at that. “I’m just kidding.”

But Murasakibara didn’t comment further and just continued eating his food.

Fukui stopped laughing when he noticed his companion’s silence. “Wait, you’re serious?” He asked worriedly.

Murasakibara thought back at how Akashi almost crushed someone’s hand because they hurt Furihata, and instead of answering Fukui’s question, he just shrugged mysteriously.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A lil bit info:  
> This chapter took place at the end of Akashi, Furihata, and Murasakibara's second year of high school. Himuro and Liu being a year older than Murasakibara were in their third year while Fukui, being two years older was in his first year of Uni. This story was heavily inspired by [my own post](http://cheersallthebestgodbless.tumblr.com/post/166176364890/in-kyoto-aomine-looks-around-where-the-hell) (lol) I wrote a long time ago. Thanks for reading!


	5. Kuroko Tetsuya

Kuroko Tetsuya didn’t actually understand what happened to him.

Ever since he was a child, for some unknown reason, he had always been invisible.

Literally  _invisible_. Like, he didn’t exist or something, when he was clearly always  _there._ It was such a strange thing.

It wasn’t like it made him friendless or anything (being invisible and all), he had friends just fine. It was just, said friends were having constant difficulty to track his presence.

It wasn’t that bad though, overall. He got used to it in the end, accepting it as a part of himself. He was living a normal life. Falling in love with basketball, meeting some wonderful people who cared about him (and noticed him a lot). He was happy and content.

Generation of Miracles were some of those wonderful people, and his friendship with them was something he cherished so much, like a precious thing it was.

But like most things that had their end, this precious friendship of his met its end as well.

.. Problem was, it didn’t end pretty.

Of all things that hurt him about the whole incident, one he never forgot was, how the one friend he respected the most, the one that gave him the chance to play basketball with style suited him the best, ended up being the one hurting his other precious friend.

Which he did again a year later. This time, by trying to stab another precious friend of his in the eye and all around disrespecting him.

But in the end, he was willing to put those incidents behind him, trying to be understanding of the mental condition of this particular friend of his.

After Seirin won the Winter Cup, things slowly got better. Broken friendship was successfully fixed. And that particular friend of his was back to his kind self.

But experience existed to be learned from. And he didn’t forget how his now kind friend, used to hurt his other friends, twice.

So Kuroko Tetsuya tried to be always cautious, when it came to one Akashi Seijuurou.

You know, just in case.

 

* * *

 

Vanilla shake was the best, wasn’t it, Kuroko mused as he sipped the second cup of his favorite drink with mild enthusiasm. He was now in the middle of listening to his red-haired friend, Akashi Seijuurou, repeating his so called “plan”.

The plan that he kept telling him over and over for at least once a week, for the past month.

And now, on Friday afternoon, November 7th, a.k.a D-1 before the “big day”, Akashi decided to come, all the way to Tokyo, to tell him the same thing.

For one last time, he said.

Kuroko wasn’t complaining of course, telling Akashi to talk it over at Maji Burger so he could listen to him over a good burger (and vanilla shake). He totally didn’t have any hidden agenda, taking Akashi to this restaurant (like hoping to drink three cups of vanilla shake for free, because Akashi was going to be the one paying). Of course not, what kind of friend did people think he was.

“So I think that covers all of it- hey, are you listening to me?” Akashi said, a bit irritated.

Kuroko sighed quietly. “Of course, Akashi-kun. The plan is to distract Furihata-kun and take him to my house, until you finished your business and could take him home from there. After that, you’re going to confess your feelings in front of his house, which I’m not going to be a part of, but you told me anyway for some reason.”

“.. That’s right. Sorry, it’s just your face.. it looks like you are spacing out. And I’m just telling you the whole plan, so you have the exact idea what this is all about.”

“This is my default expression, Akashi-kun.”

Akashi chuckled at that. “If you say so.” He then took a french fry and ate it.. gracefully. What even was this person. No one ate fast food  _gracefully._

Kuroko stirred his drink, and found himself a bit sad because it was almost empty. “I admit that confessing on his birthday is a nice touch.” He paused for a moment, gathering his thoughts. “The way you’re going to do it however, taking him home first and then confess.. I just thought if it’s you, it’s going to be more..  _grand_ and less uh..  _shoujo_  than that.”

“Please stop calling my plan  _shoujo_ , Kuroko.”

“I’m just saying, because this legit looks like a shoujo manga plot for me, not that it’s bad or anything..”

Akashi only rolled his eyes at that. It was silent for a moment before he answered. “I like to refer to my plan as  _simple_ , and honestly, if it was up to me, then sure I’m going to do  _more_.” He averted his eyes to the window, his gaze distant. “But this isn’t about me, right? This is about Furihata-kun, and he likes to keep things simple.” He looked back at Kuroko and smiled softly. “So I’m doing it the way he likes it.. or that was I thought, at least.”

Kuroko observed his former captain carefully. Of course that was the reason. Just another proof of how much he cared about Furihata.

When Kuroko first knew about Akashi’s feelings, his first instinct was to object. After all, the whole thing made no sense, and his past experiences with Akashi taught him to be cautious. He knew it was probably a bit not good, having such a negative thought and all, especially because Akashi was one of his closest friends, but he couldn’t help it.

Over the time though, he warmed up to the idea. Because how could he not, when Akashi looked at Furihata like  _that._  Like he was the most precious thing Akashi had ever laid his eyes on.

In the end, he came to the conclusion that Akashi’s feeling was totally genuine and he began to accept it.

And now, Akashi was one step closer to finally asking Furihata out. He already came a long way.

Kuroko internally smirked. “Also there’s still a possibility you’re going to get rejected, it’s going to be embarrassing if-”

“Yes wow, thank you for reminding me about that tiny little thing, Kuroko, I almost forget about that.”

He wondered if he just hit a sore spot there.

“You’re scared you’re going to get rejected?”

Akashi visibly cringed.

Well, he definitely did hit the sore spot.

“It would be weird if I am not, no?”

“But you’re Akashi Seijuurou.”

“And what's that supposed to mean?”

So Akashi was actually insecure about the whole thing. How  _adorable._

Silence engulfed the two after that and Kuroko knew this discussion was nearing its end, but before that..

“I want to buy.. more vanilla shake.”

Akashi lifted one brow at that, before he nodded slightly.

When Kuroko was back, he put his cup and folded his hands on the table, his expression serious. He had some things he wanted Akashi to understand, and it was finally time to tell him those.

And so, he began.

“Fukuda-kun knows kung-fu.”

Akashi blinked at that seemingly random comment. “What?”

“One of Kawahara-kun’s ancestors is a samurai and he has this legendary katana in his house.”

“What are you-”

“I heard Kagami-kun managed to befriend some American thugs these days.”

“…”

“I read many crime novels and I’m confident that I can hide a dead body well.”

Kuroko stopped talking after that and there was more silence.. until Akashi spoke.

“.. And you’re telling me all these because..?”

Kuroko shrugged. “Just some trivia about Furihata-kun’s.. friends.”

He might added a bit (okay, a lot) of  _made up_ facts to the so called trivia, for dramatic purpose, but he hoped Akashi got the point.

Akashi looked at him thoughtfully, for the second time today, before he nodded, just as serious. “I get it, Kuroko.” He then gave him a small smile. “Thank you.”

Kuroko, finally feeling satisfied and full of trust, gave Akashi one of his most genuine smiles in return. “That’s good to hear, Akashi-kun. Truly.”

 

* * *

 

“Is this really okay, Furihata-kun? You accompanying me to the bookstore, I mean.” Kuroko asked his companion, while walking slowly on the crime novels section's aisle.

The said companion, who was standing beside him, chuckled. “Of course it’s okay, Kuroko. Why are you even asking that?”

Well, the truth was, going to a bookstore was only an excuse. It was part of the plan to distract Furihata, so he didn’t feel alone on his birthday. That was, until his prince charming was done with his business and finally had the time to execute the main act a.k.a the “confession”.

Furihata, blessed his soul, didn’t have a single clue of course.

Kuroko took a random book from one of the shelves in front of him, before he answered. “It’s just, you usually meet with uh.. Akashi-kun on Saturday, so..”

“Oh.” Kuroko didn’t miss how Furihata blushed slightly at that comment. “Um.. he is busy today.”

He also didn’t miss the subtle disappointment in his voice.

Judging by this reaction, Kuroko could only think of one thing.

Akashi was taking that  _route_. He purposely kept Furihata completely in the dark, not even wishing him happy birthday, so the surprise of the plan would have the full impact.

A pretty cruel route, but he was not one to comment.

Since he was currently taking this route as well.

“Do you want to come to my house after this? Maybe we could play some games..” Kuroko asked innocently.

“Ah, I don’t really want to impose-“

Kuroko shook his head and gave him a small smile. “It's no trouble at all.”

Furihata looked at him thoughtfully, before he finally grinned, and nodded.

 

* * *

 

It was just a bit past midday when Kuroko and Furihata arrived at Kuroko’s house. They were welcomed by Kuroko’s mother, who immediately ushered them upstairs, telling them to chill at Kuroko’s room while she prepared some refreshments.

Kuroko’s mother exchanged a knowing look with his son and winked, before he disappeared to the kitchen.

Kuroko couldn’t help but let out a small, inaudible chuckle at his mother’s antics. It was almost endearing how excited she was.

“Should we go now, Kuroko?” Furihata inclined his head to the stairs beside him.

“Just a moment, Furihata-kun.” Kuroko said, distracted. He fished his phone from his pocket and began typing rapidly.

_We’re here._

He pocketed his phone and gave Furihata a small nod. “Let’s go.”

When they arrived in front of Kuroko’s room, instead of opening it, Kuroko turned to face Furihata. “You ready?”

Man, he was really good at this, wasn’t he, Kuroko thought proudly.

Furihata furrowed his brows at that. “Ready for what?”

Kuroko gave him a mysterious smile and proceeded to open the door…

“SURPRISE!!”

Inside his room was two people (or three?) who had been waiting for his and Furihata’s arrival since morning. Fukuda, Kawahara, and an open laptop on the short table, showing the face of Kagami, who now lived in America (thanks Skype!). They were all wearing party hats, throwing confetti and whistling loudly (yes, even Kagami). On the wall, there was a giant banner that read “HAPPY BIRTHDAY FURI” and many random colorful stuff.

It was awesome.

Furihata, on the other hand, seemed to be completely dumbfounded by the whole thing, before his lips slowly formed a big smile. He came up to his two friends who welcomed him with variety of handshakes and shoulder bumps and hugs. He then walked and sat facing the laptop and greeted Kagami, thanking him and saying something along the lines of “it’s already pretty late over there but here you are, wide awake, and making the time for me on my birthday. I love you, dude.”

In which Kagami replied with “always, dude.”

The scene was surprisingly heartwarming.

But for Kuroko, the most amazing thing came after that, when Furihata turned toward him and enveloped him in a tight hug. It took him by surprise and it happened so fast, he didn’t get the chance to even pat Furihata’s back in return.

Furihata kept him at arm’s length after that, and gave him a grin that was so wide it made his eyes almost disappeared.

“Thank you.” He said softly.

His tone indicated that he somehow had the idea that this was all Kuroko’s plan, and he was so very grateful for that.

He was right.

It was indeed Kuroko’s plan (though everyone’s hard work played a major part for this to become a success, of course).

Because well.. Akashi was not the only one who cared about Furihata. He  _cared_ too. He and Fukuda and Kawahara and Kagami. So really, it was only natural that they did this.

He looked at Furihata’s smiling face. It was such a wonderful feeling to make a dear friend happy, wasn’t it? He was glad they managed to do it.

He then acknowledged Furihata’s gratitude with a nod, his mouth quirked up in a smile just as wide.

 

* * *

 

The birthday party consisted of them eating cake and snacks Kuroko’s mother provided (who was, for some reason, always the most thrilled when it came to birthday parties), playing FIFA (Furihata’s favorite game) and various console games in turn, talking about basketball, talking about their friends, talking about the latest school gossips, etc, etc.

It was fun.

But in the midst of it all, Kuroko couldn’t help but noticed how Furihata kept glancing at his phone every once in a while, or how his expression changed to one of disappointment ever so slightly every time after that.

It seemed that.. he missed a certain someone already (and maybe hoping he wished him happy birthday as well).

_If only he knew._

Kuroko wouldn’t tell him of course, but he couldn’t help feeling bad too. He didn’t like seeing Furihata sad, especially on his birthday like this.

He could only hope Akashi would come soon.

 

* * *

 

It was eight in the evening when Kuroko began to feel anxious. Akashi still hadn’t come. He texted him a couple of times, but none of them was answered. Literally no words from him whatsoever. Kagami had signed off some hours previously, and Fukuda and Kawahara had already taken their leave about an a hour ago. The party was practically over and Furihata only stayed because Kuroko asked him to (“books discussion” was the excuse he made).

Furihata, much to his relief, complied easily and didn’t suspect anything out of ordinary about his request to stay longer. Probably because discussing books was something they often doing at school anyway (both being in the library committee and all), so it really didn’t sound weird.

When the clock showed it was almost nine, his anxiety was practically going through the roof, because  _where in the flipping hell was Akashi?_

“I think.. I really need to go home now, Kuruko.” Furihata said slowly.

Kuroko sighed. Screw this oddly specific shoujo plan, he wasn’t going to hold Furihata back anymore. He would let him returned home because the guy was clearly tired and honestly, he deserved his rest.

He was about to open his mouth to say “okay” when his phone beeped. He just got a text message.. from Akashi.

_I’m about to knock on your door._

Kuroko exhaled loudly. Finally! Prince charming was finally here, ladies and gents! This was truly the most relieved he felt all day.

A series of knocks was heard and Kuroko immediately urged Furihata to open the door.

“It’s probably my mother, could you get that for me, Furihata-kun?”

“Sure.” Furihata stood up and walked to the door. He opened it.. and gasped. Because instead of Kuroko’s mother, he came face to face with Akashi.

From his position, Kuroko had a clear view of what was happening at the door. Though he could only see Furihata’s back, he could guess that his mouth was probably hanging open right now. Akashi on the other hand, looked downright exhausted. He was out of breath and a little sweaty. His dress shirt was untucked and his hair was messier than usual. He held his suit jacket in his left hand, and in his right hand he-

Kuroko raised his brows.  _Roses_. Akashi had this big, beautiful bouquet of red roses in his right hand.

A memory flashed through his mind.

_I like to refer to my plan as simple._

.. Sure thing it was. Not. That roses must cost at least some thousands yen. Not counting whatever gifts Akashi already prepared for Furihata. Simple but terms and conditions apply, more like. The terms and conditions being, the gifts could be more elaborate and expensive.

He understood though, because if he were Akashi, he’d probably do the same.

“H-how..” Furihata asked in a small voice Kuroko almost didn’t hear it. “You have business meeting today.”

“Which should have ended earlier this afternoon but er.. things happened.” Akashi looked at Furihata intently before he added. “I’m glad I could make it though.”

“Eh?”

Akashi held the roses in front of Furihata’s face, and smiled softly. “Happy birthday, Furihata-kun.”

There was this silence that stretched out so long before Furihata finally received the roses and said thank you. Kuroko thought that maybe everything was a bit too much for Furihata.

He soon learned that it was not a problem at all, because after that, he saw Akashi.. blushed slightly. That Akashi. Actually  _blushed_.

It seemed that whatever expression Furihata was making right now must be a great one. Which was a good thing really.

He told Akashi to come inside. Thought it was time for him to have a little rest, before he did the next step of the plan.

Akashi and Furihata proceeded to sit side by side in front him with the short table separating them. Furihata then put the roses on the table carefully, while Akashi asked if he could charge his phone while he was here, since its battery was dying.

Well, that explained some things, Kuroko mused as he took Akashi’s phone and charged it. He then put it on his desk and returned to his position on the floor.

“How do you know I’m here?” Furihata asked while he poured water for Akashi to a new cup.

Akashi thanked him and gulped down the water Furihata gave him in one breath before he answered. “Kuroko er.. told me.”

“It was a shame you couldn’t join us on the birthday party, Akashi-kun.” Kuroko commented.

“A birthday par-” Akashi looked confused for a moment, before he caught the sight of the giant banner on the wall. “Oh, um yeah, it was a shame indeed.”

Truth be told, Akashi also didn’t know about the birthday party. He didn’t give Kuroko a specific instruction about the way to distract Furihata. But now that he knew, he seemed pleased and gave Kuroko a small nod of acknowledgement and gratitude.

Kuroko almost scoffed. As if he needed that. He didn’t do it for him.

Well.. he kinda did, but again, at the end of the day, today was all about Furihata.

Akashi then turned to Furihata and gave him a small smile. “Did you have fun?”

Furihata gave him a big grin in return. “Yes.”

From the corner of his eyes, Kuroko saw how Akashi kept tapping his fingers on his thigh. He guessed it was almost time.

“It’s getting late.. I think we need.. to leave.” Akashi commented, trying to sound as casual as possible.

Furihata’s eyes widened. “You’re right! Your train’s going to leave soon.” He turned to Kuroko. “I need to take Akashi-kun to the train station, Kuroko. Thank you, once again, for-“

 _“NO!”_ Akashi and Kuroko yelled at the same time.

The thing was, Kuroko rarely raised his voice.. but it seemed Akashi’s nervousness was contagious.

Furihata cringed at the sudden double  _aggressiveness_ directed to him.

_Damn, that wasn’t good._

Kuroko was the first one to recover. “I mean no, you should stop spoiling Akashi-kun like that. Today’s your birthday, so let him take you home first.”

“He’s right.” Akashi agreed with enthusiasm that was probably a bit too much to be considered normal.

Furihata on the other hand, looked positively confused. “Me.. taking Akashi-kun to the train station.. is spoiling him?”

“Yes.” Akashi and Kuroko said in unison, again. Geez, what an embarrassing display, Kuroko rolled his eyes inwardly. What were they? A comedy duo?

Furihata looked at Akashi thoughtfully and then at Kuroko and back at Akashi, probably trying to figure out what exactly was happening, before he finally sighed. “Okay.”

Akashi was the first one to stand. “Brilliant! Let me get my phone first.”

Kuroko watched as Akashi checked on his phone, his mind wandering.

 

* * *

 

_“It works the other way around too, by the way.” Kuroko added after a long moment._

_“Huh?”_

_“I get your back as well.” He said. “Me and Kise-kun and Midorima-kun and Aomine-kun and Momoi-san and Murasakibara-kun. We all get your back.”_

_Akashi looked taken aback by this declaration.. before he nodded, looking genuinely grateful. “Thank you, I.. highly appreciate-”_

_“Just in case you got rejected.” Kuroko cut him off casually._

_“.. I’m leaving.”_

 

* * *

 

Kuroko couldn’t help but chuckle a bit at the memory.

_Good luck Akashi-kun._

Not long after, Furihata stood up as well, taking his bag and the roses with him in the process.

Kuroko also rose to bid his two friends goodbye. Looking at the flowers in Furihata’s hand, Kuroko commented. “Do you need another bag for that?”

He offered because he thought that maybe Furihata didn’t want to be seen holding flowers in public.

But Furihata shook his head immediately. He looked at the roses with the softness and adoration that was so overwhelming, it made even Kuroko’s heart skipped a beat. “Thanks for the offer. But no, thanks.”

Kuroko then looked back at Akashi who was in the middle of pocketing his phone. He caught his eyes and they exchanged smiles. Akashi then gave him one final gratitude and “wish me luck” nod.

He wondered though, if the “wish me luck” part was necessary. Because if that expression of Furihata earlier was any indication, it seemed that he and the rest of GoM didn’t need to get Akashi’s back this time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Katana (from wikipedia) = traditionally made Japanese swords that were used by the samurai of ancient and feudal Japan.


	6. Aomine Daiki

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter six is finally here! Sorry for the long wait and sorry if this chapter is a bit messy and all over the place. I hope you guys still enjoy it, nonetheless :>

Aomine Daiki had many traits. Athletic, manly, super good at basketball. Maybe a little selfish and arrogant at times. Lazy and a bit of a pervert too. Also easily bored and always sleepy. Though It seemed that the majority of them were negative, he believed he was still a pretty decent person, all around.

Among those many traits, there was one that he personally considered as a blessing.

He was apathetic.

Not in the level that he completely didn’t care about anything, of course not. He cared about his family and friends.

It was just, most of the time, he wasn’t interested in their business. He wasn’t interested about how his cousins managed to have a successful career or how his friends managed to have an incredible love life. Good for them, but he didn’t feel anything. Not jealous, not curious, not happy for them, none. He just simply didn’t care.

It was truly a blessing. Because life was simpler and more peaceful like that. He was never nosy, always minding his own business, practically the worst person to discuss gossips.

Not even when he found out the lion was dating the chihuahua. Which was shocking at first, but after that, there was only apathy for this one too.

He didn’t care when the lion started making better jokes after he was dating.

He wasn’t curious when the lion looked more cheerful after he was dating.

He didn’t start questioning things when the lion was practically glowing with happiness after he was dating.

Aomine Daiki was apathetic toward Akashi Seijuurou and Furihata Kouki’s relationship. Like, totally.

.. Or so he thought.

 

* * *

 

Aomine breathed in the morning air of Fujikawaguchiko, a famous area near Mount Fuji, a small smile gracing his lips.

It was so refreshing to be here. It had been so long.

He supposed he had his father to thank for this opportunity.

It started one night, when his mother was frantically searching for something around the house (and ordered him and his father to do the same). That something turned out to be his father’s ticket for a 3 days 2 nights at XYZ, a famous hot springs inn (the name was such a hassle to pronounce though). His parents were planning to go there, since his father had a week off, starting at the beginning of the following month, after finishing this massive project at work.

His mother was in tears when they didn’t find the ticket in the end, telling her clumsy husband she hated him and all that in between her sobs.

Aomine tried to cheer his mother up by saying at least she still had her ticket and could go alone and leave his father miserable at home. His father pinched his arm at that, muttering something along the lines of ‘this is not how you comfort woman’.

Well, he tried.

The next morning, his mother was already cheerful again, giving him wide smiles and putting extra eggs on his breakfast. He had an idea as to why, but he asked what happened anyway. His mother told him that his father purchased two tickets to South Korea to make up for the missing ticket, so they were going to spend the week there instead.

He turned to his father who gave him a weak smile. He also noticed how he was a little paler than usual.

So his father had done it again.

This was not the first time something like this happened in the Aomine household. His father was a really clumsy individual, a trait that often made his mother upset. Also a trait that often made him spending more money just to make his wife happy again.

He never complained though, Aomine supposed he was charming in that way.

At the end of breakfast, before he went to his campus (he was in his second year of uni now), his mother gave him her XYZ ticket, telling him to use it if he wanted, or give it to his friend, whichever he prefered.

Given his lazy nature, Aomine thought to just give the ticket to one of the Miracles (probably Momoi or Kuroko), or one of his mates in his basketball club (yes, he had more friends now and yes, he still played basketball and yes, he chose his uni based on its basketball club reputation).

He soon changed his mind though, telling himself he needed a change of scenery.

Which turned out to be the best decision ever because _wow_ , the view was absolutely breathtaking over here.

So he stepped in to the inn, grinning from ear to ear, ready to start this relaxing adventure.

 

* * *

 

Which didn’t last long, because as soon as he arrived at the receptionist, he met two familiar people (or one familiar couple) who just finished checking in.

Akashi Seijuurou and Furihata Kouki.

Aomine sighed, cursing his luck. _Why oh why._

The thing was, he absolutely loathed meeting people he knew when he was on vacation. He hated it, because it would mean he would be forced to interact and make small talks and start conversation when he clearly didn’t want to and really, it was like, the very opposite of relaxing.

The trio looked at each other awkwardly for a moment, before Furihata broke the silence.

“Um.. morning.” He greeted Aomine with a sheepish smile.

Aomine acknowledged him with a nod, grateful he spoke first. “It’s been a while.” He then nodded to Akashi who stood beside Furihata and added. “It’s good to see you again.”

At that, Akashi only chuckled, his eyes sparkled with humor, “Really?”

It took a couple of seconds for Aomine to realize that Akashi was joking.

It was common knowledge that out of his fellow Miracles, Akashi was the one he always had trouble getting along with. He didn’t know why, maybe it was just their personality that didn’t match, or maybe it was something else, but either way, it was always slightly awkward whenever they two were left alone.

He knew that Akashi also acknowledged this fact, and though he was aware that Akashi was a bit more laidback these days (Momoi would say it was all thanks to Furihata, not that he cared about the reason), he still caught off guard (in a good way, he admitted) whenever Akashi made a joke.

Aomine then chuckled as well, feeling the awkward atmosphere started to disappear. “No, not really. It’s not so good to see a friend I feel very awkward with, I guess.”

Akashi grinned at the remark, his posture relaxing. “On vacation?” He asked, changing the subject.

“Yeah.” Aomine answered. Glancing slightly at Furihata, he couldn’t help but tease them a bit. “How about you guys? Is it your honeymoon?”

Surprisingly, Akashi smirked upon hearing the question. He then put his arm around Furihata’s shoulders. “You could say that, actually. We’re celebrating our third year anniversary.”

Furihata’s face turned red at the exchange. He tried so hard to avoid eye contact. Aomine tried to suppress his snicker at that.

“Today is also Kouki’s birthday.” Akashi added, smiling warmly at his boyfriend.

Aomine hummed and turned his attention to Furihata. “Oh, I think I remember yeah. Tetsu told me that Akashi confessed to you on your birthday. He called him, uh.. ‘Prince Charming from Shoujo Manga’ or something like that.”

This time, it was Furihata’s turn to chuckle. “It was accurate, to be honest.”

Aomine let out a small laugh when he saw Akashi rolled his eyes at Furihata’s approval of the nickname. It was really amusing to see.

He felt it was time for them to part ways, so he excused himself first. He wished Furihata a happy birthday and told them to enjoy their stay. The couple returned the gesture kindly, Furihata even wished to ‘see him around’. He was polite like that.

Well, sorry to say, but Aomine would make sure it would never happen.

Because he didn’t like to run into people he knew when he was on vacation, remember? So, even though he found Akashi and Furihata weren’t that bad to be around, he would still try to avoid them.

With that motivation in mind, he went to the receptionist to check in. When he finished, the couple was no longer in sight. Good, he thought. He then went to his room to put his belongings and rest for a bit. He smiled to himself, the relaxing vacation officially started now.

 

* * *

 

Aomine decided to stroll around the area after he finished lunch. It was early November and the weather was just _right_. Autumn was his favorite season after all.

The view was beautiful too. Like a painting, with so much yellow and orange in it. There were people, but it wasn’t crowded over all.

It was perfect.

He walked and walked, like his feet had their own mind, and let them be in charge. He took some photos too, to send to his friends and parents. He enjoyed everything so much he didn’t realize he was now in a pretty secluded area, without too many people around.

Well, a great place to take more photos.

So he did just that. He directed his phone to the scenery in front of him.. only to catch sight of a familiar couple, again. It was some distance away but he could tell. _Red and brown hair._ It was _them_ alright, no doubt about that.

He lowered his phone and decided to observe the two. They were strolling around, just like him. Well, except they were a couple, and like, they were holding hands and stuff (he was not bitter he was single at the moment, not at all).

A moment later, Akashi let go of Furihata’s hand and instead, gave him a side hug. Akashi then kissed Furihata’s temple. It reminded Aomine of the scene from Korean drama his mother loved to watch. Super cheesy.. but also uh, sweet.

Furihata turned his head to Akashi and smiled. And it actually made Akashi.. stopped walking? And then..

And then Akashi kissed Furihata. On the lips. It started soft.. until it wasn’t just a simple peck anymore. They were like, French kissing now? With tongue and everything. What a turn of event. Aomine really didn’t know if having a 20/20 vision was a curse or a blessing right now. The fact that he could see his friends making out in such great details from far away was.. indescribable.

When it was finally over, Furihata looked like he was embarrassed, and hid his face on Akashi’s shoulder. Akashi just chuckled and ruffled his hair. Now it was Aomine’s turn to get embarrassed. He just witnessed an intense PDA, and didn’t turn away once. It was almost like, he was caught in a spell because it was.. beautiful? Legit like a scene from a movie. Was that even possible? Or maybe years of consuming um.. porn, made him shameless?

Oh well.

There was no use thinking about such things. He continued his walk, pretending not to care. He realized his cheeks were warm though.

 

* * *

 

It was late afternoon when Aomine decided to go back to the inn. He had this plan to rest for a bit in his room, and then go to the onsen. It would be super refreshing. After that, he would eat dinner, and then with a full stomach, he would relax on his futon and watch TV until he fell asleep.

He nodded to himself, it was such a good plan.

He passed the onsen on his way to his room and found out it was.. full. Aomine sighed, of course it was, how could he forget. Onsen was usually full at this time of the day.

Well, he would go to the onsen after dinner then, he decided. There would be less people by that time, hopefully. With that thought in mind, he continued to walk toward his room and saw.. Akashi and Furihata, _again._ They were standing next to his room.

_For God’s sake!_

“Oh, Aomine-kun! We meet again.” Furihata greeted him cheerfully when he noticed his presence. “Where are you going?”

Aomine flinched inwardly. So much for avoiding them.

“To.. my room.” He answered slowly. He was about to open the sliding door (it was a Japanese-style room), when Furihata asked,

“That’s your room?”

Aomine’s eyes widened. He had a bad feeling about this. He nodded. “Yes.. why?”

There was a pause before Furihata let out a small laugh. “Your room is next to ours! How cool is that!”

Aomine stared at Furihata blankly, mouth agape. He couldn’t believe what he heard. Just when he thought he wasn’t going to see these guys again for the rest of his stay, and then this.. _happened._ How? _Why?_

“Aomine.” Akashi’s voice snapped him back to reality, his eyes narrowed ever so slightly. “Are you okay?”

Aomine could only nod. He was a bit distracted to be honest. Before one of his friends could utter another word, he mumbled a small ‘excuse me’, rushed to his room, and slid the door close.

He sighed again. He really sighed a lot today, didn’t he? He sat down and started to mull over things. He wondered why he was so annoyed about meeting his friends here. Because honestly, it wasn’t that bad, was it? Like, yes he wanted solitude and meeting friends was kind of ruined that very plan, but he couldn’t keep getting annoyed like this.

It would be a waste of energy to avoid Akashi and Furihata too, now that their room was next to his. The only thing he could do was to accept it. If fate wanted him to enjoy this vacation with a certain couple in the end, then so be it.

With that resolve in mind, Aomine got up and walked toward his bag to change his clothes.. only to realize he forgot to bring his socks. He facepalmed. His feet got cold easily and he forgot to bring socks. _Perfect._

 

* * *

 

After a five minutes debate with himself, Aomine decided to just try to borrow socks from the ‘friends’ he got annoyed at just moments earlier. _Ugh._

So now, here he was, in the couple’s room, apparently interrupting their intense session.. of playing FIFA. These guys were celebrating their third year anniversary.. by playing console games? Truly one of a kind.

When Aomine told them he was in dire need of socks, Furihata was the one who paused the game, got up, and enthusiastically offered his socks to be borrowed. It still baffled Aomine sometimes, how Furihata always got excited of the prospect of helping someone. He was almost _too kind_. Honestly.

Furihata was in the middle of the great socks searching (read: dropping the entire content of his bag to the floor and making a mess because he seemed to forget where he put his socks), when Aomine caught Akashi staring at him intensely.

If there was one thing that Aomine noticed about these two, it was how Akashi looked at Furihata. He didn’t simply look, he _stared._ Everytime. Akashi was always like this, whenever Furihata was around. If he didn’t have anything to do, he would just stare shamelessly at his boyfriend for a long period of time.

Aomine decided to comment (not for the first time, he knew). “You stare too much.”

“This comment again, huh?” Akashi chuckled, amused.

Aomine just shrugged. “I still think it’s kinda creepy.”

Akashi was silent, still staring at Furihata as if nothing happened. “I can’t help it. My eyes were craving this sight.. non-stop. It’s beyond my control.”

Aomine felt like he was blushing. How could Akashi said something like that in front of him?

He coughed to calm himself down. “Furihata is not bothered by this?”

“I told him the same thing I just told you.” Akashi answered simply.

Okay _. How could Akashi said something like that in front of Furihata??_ The absolute state of this guy.

Aomine didn’t have time to think about it further because a moment later, Furihata came back and gave him two pairs of fluffy socks that looked super warm, which he took gratefully. He excused himself and the last thing he saw before leaving the room was Furihata starting the game again, excitedly telling Akashi that he was going to destroy him. Aomine just shook his head.

 

* * *

 

Not long after arriving at his own room, Aomine realized that he left his phone on Akashi and Furihata’s room. Cursing himself for his clumsiness, he rushed back to the next room and slid the door open.

“Hey guys, sorry I think I-“

He never finished his sentence. He couldn’t. He was too shocked by the sight that greeted him.

Furihata was straddling Akashi, with his hands on Akashi’s hair, and Akashi’s hands on his bottom. They were kissing and Aomine could tell it was really intense before he slid the door close out of reflex.

And then, almost commedically, as if it would somehow fix his mistake, he _knocked._

“There’s not much point in knocking now, is there, Aomine?” Akashi’s cold voice rang out from the other side of the room. A shiver ran down Aomine’s spine.

“My.. my phone..” He said meekly.

Not five seconds later, Akashi slid the door open again and gave him the phone. His expression calm and controlled.. well, there was some annoyance in there that made Aomine cringe, so he nodded a little to show he was sorry. From the corner of his eyes he could see Furihata fiddled with his game controller, his face completely red.

“They were.. they were playing games.” Aomine mumbled to himself.

But Akashi heard that apparently. “Yes, but we are also in the middle of celebrating our anniversary.”

After that, it was awkward silence for a full minute, before Akashi was speaking again.

“Do you need anything else?” He asked, his tone back to normal, clearly wishing they all let the incident go already, which Aomine fully agreed on.

And so, Aomine excused himself once more, and went back to his room, reminding himself over and over to _always knock the door_ no matter the situation.

 

* * *

 

Aomine woke up with a jolt at 2 in the morning. He didn’t exactly know how or when he fell asleep, but now that he was alert, he found himself extremely tired for some reason. He then remembered how he wanted to go to the onsen once it was empty. He checked the clock one more time and realized this was the perfect time.

He got up a bit excited and took his things. He left the room with a smile on his face, ready for a relaxing time at the onsen.

Upon arriving at the place, he immediately stripped out of his clothes, wrapped the towel around his hips, and put his things in the locker. Humming a song softly, he slowly making his way to the water..

.. Only to see the same embarrassing sight for the third time.

Akashi and Furihata was making out again in the water (this time it was soft, he noticed) and he was the one who had all the luck to witness it.

_Holy fucking hell._

This time it wasn’t his fault though. This was a public onsen for heaven’s sake!

So Aomine only averted his eyes (definitely not backing down) and said. “You should have booked a private onsen, you know.”

He could hear Akashi sighed. “I actually agree with you, and would love to do just that, if only a certain someone would stop telling me it’s a waste of money.”

Aomine looked up and saw they were now separated (Akashi still had his arm around Furihata’s shoulders though). He could make Furihata’s blushing face despite the dimmed light and how his mouth formed a pout. He sank a bit further into the water and mumbled an almost inaudible ‘sorry’ to the navy-haired boy.

The said navy-haired boy found himself not actually mad so he just waved his hand to dismiss the apology. He got into the water and stretched his limbs one by one. Finally, a relaxing time. He didn’t even mind the company.

They didn’t say anything to each other for a long time and when Akashi finally broke the silence, it was to excuse himself and Furihata. Aomine only nodded as a response. He observed how the two got out of the water, and how Akashi immediately held Furihata’s hand once he was able to.

 _Like a magnet._ That was the first thing that crossed Aomine’s mind upon witnessing the scene in front of him. It was so ridiculously sweet.

 

* * *

 

Aomine woke up again around 5 in the morning to the strange sound coming from next door. Which was Akashi and Furihata’s room.

At first, it was unclear what sound it was exactly, but the more he listened, the more it became louder. It sounded like someone was in.. pain?

He listened more, and his eyes widened upon realizing what sound it was.

It was a series of _moans._

_Oh God._

Akashi and Furihata was doing _that_. And the freaking walls were not soundproof. _Holy shit._ Aomine was completely speechless.

This was it. _This was it._ Aomine had seen and witnessed and heard them all. He closed his eyes miserably. Ironically, by doing that, his hearing sense heightened and now he could hear _slaps of skin against skin._

He scrambled to take his bag and hastily dug for his earphone. He connected it to his phone and immediately searched for ‘the loudest rock music ever’. He put the earphone on his ears and tried to sleep again, praying his ears would still be alright in the morning and he wouldn’t get ‘an unwanted dream’ in his slumber.

 

* * *

 

Aomine didn’t get ‘an unwanted dream’, thankfully, but it ended up being one of the most restless sleeps he had ever experienced. All thanks to his ex-captain and his beloved boyfriend.

He washed his face and brushed his teeth, getting ready to eat breakfast. He dragged his feet to the dining room, yawning every once in a while.

The sight of the great breakfast buffet made the sleep-deprived Aomine awake instantly. His mouth watered. He took the plate eagerly and began to-

“Morning.”

A familiar sound greeted him. He looked up and found Akashi standing before him, looking very.. refreshed. _Obviously,_ Aomine rolled his eyes inwardly _._ Akashi might not get enough rest because of _the activity_ he was doing last night but still..

Well, Aomine wasn’t about to dwell on that. It wasn’t his business.

“Where’s Furihata?” Aomine asked, realizing Akashi was actually alone this time.

“He forgot to bring his phone so he went back to the room to get it. He would be here shortly.”

And as if being summoned, Furihata arrived shortly after Akashi finished speaking.

Furihata walked toward the two, a warm smile on his face. “Morning, Aomine-kun.”

“Morning.” Aomine greeted back.

Before Furihata could utter another word, Akashi’s hand was suddenly on his hair, combing it gently. The action made him looked up to his boyfriend questioningly.

“Is it still messy?”

Akashi chuckled. “Just a bit.”

Furihata huffed, a bit annoyed. “ _Harder, Sei-”_

Aomine’s eyes widened. An unwanted memory came to the forefront of his mind and it was affecting his way of thinking. _Come on guys it’s still early-_

“-you know how wild my hair is. You gotta comb it _harder_.”

_Oh._

Furihata was talking about hair? Of course he was talking about hair. Aomine almost facepalmed. This was bad. Very bad. He was at the point when he thought of simple words as some sort of sexual innuendo. How utterly embarrassing.

He was so done with these two. So, without saying anything, he proceeded to put a variety of food on his plate, ignoring whatever they were doing right now, and focusing his thought on today’s agenda instead. There was some area he still wanted to visit, he also needed to buy souvenirs.

Today was going to be fun and he wouldn’t let anyone (read: Akashi and Furihata) ruined it.

 

* * *

 

He came back to the inn a bit later than the previous day. He had so much fun alone. Yes, _alone._ He didn’t crossed path even once with a certain couple the whole time, and he was grateful for that. He was also having so much fun shopping for souvenirs. Never knew he had it in him. Momoi would be proud.

He took a quick shower and after that, he began relaxing on his futon. He already had dinner so all that was left to do was to sleep. But it was still early, it would be such a waste to just go to sleep now, especially because this was his last night staying at the inn.

Aomine bit his lip. He was also kind of _scared_ he would wake up to ‘the strange sound’ again.

There was only one way to make sure it wouldn’t happen. But was that okay?

He got up and walked to the next room. Sorry (not really) to Akashi and Furihata, but for his own sake, tonight he would do something to prevent them from um, _having sex_.

 

* * *

 

As it turned out, Akashi and Furihata was in the middle of playing monopoly when Aomine got in the room. He wondered just whose idea was this.

Furihata excitedly told him to join them, immediately restarting the game.

“Wait, Kouki, you can’t just do that, I’m almost making sweet money here.” Akashi glared at his boyfriend.

Furihata just rolled his eyes. “You already made me taste bankruptcy three times. You don’t have the right to be upset.”

Akashi looked like he had more things to say but held himself back upon seeing Furihata’s raising eyebrows. He ended up pouting instead. The discussion was over just like that.

Aomine snorted at the ridiculous display in front of him. He sat down while Furihata was dividing money for the three of them. Not long after, they began playing the game.

Two hours later, Aomine found himself actually enjoying the game. He was having so much fun even though he kept getting almost bankrupt over and over again because of his horrible strategy. Akashi was now on his way to become a millionaire and Furihata was also on his way.. to escape from the jail.

Suddenly, Akashi spoke. “Kouki, let’s get married-“

Aomine gaped at that.

“-I’ll gladly share my money with you.”

Aomine closed his mouth again. _What kind of conversation was this._

“No. I’ll get out of the jail with my own effort.” Furihata said, determined.

Aomine couldn’t help but chuckle at that. The state of it all.

“Do you want to get married to me then, Furihata? We could destroy Akashi together.” He asked teasingly.

There was silence for a second before Furihata erupted into laughter. And strangely, Akashi chuckled too. Aomine felt his heart getting warm at the sight.

“You two could form an alliance to try,” Akashi smirked, “but I’m absolute.”

Aomine and Furihata snickered at that, no longer seeing it as a terrifying thing, but more of a banter, which was a good change. Akashi already came a long way, didn’t he, Aomine thought. He was glad that was the case.

They resumed the game, the plan of forming an alliance forgotten (Aomine and Furihata were too proud to do that). When it was his turn to move, Akashi shifted closer to Aomine and mumbled. “No one could marry him but me.”

Aomine looked at his red-haired friend. He couldn’t really tell if he was joking or actually being serious but he knew one thing for sure.

He grinned and ruffled Akashi’s hair, for the first time ever, and whispered back. “I’ll make sure no one would marry him but you.”

Akashi was shocked at this unexpected response but soon after, they both chuckled while Furihata looked at them questioningly.

Aomine didn’t know why he did what he did, maybe because it was heat of the moment (it was just so much fun playing with them). Or maybe it was because deep down, he always liked the couple, from the very first time he saw them together.

Akashi was his friend, no matter what happened in the past, and Furihata made him happy. It really couldn’t get any better than that.

 

* * *

 

His plan to prevent Akashi and Furihata having sex went better than he expected. After they finished playing monopoly, Furihata offered Aomine to stay the night in their room to watch some horror movies together. He could see that Akashi didn’t fully agree to this plan but didn’t have the heart to deny his boyfriend.

They prepared the futon. There was only two but it was enough since Akashi and Furihata originally only needed one anyway. All of them were past the point of being awkward about the _little fact_ that Akashi and Furihata shared a futon. Aomine had already caught them doing more _intimate things,_ multiple times. This ‘sharing the futon’ stuff was nothing.

After they were settled on the futon, Furihata played the movie. It was an American movie called Hereditary. Furihata was already restless from the very first minute. He held Akashi’s every limbs that he could reach tightly while Akashi did his best to comfort him. Aomine noticed how Furihata was scared for life but strangely, never looked away from the screen once. It was kind of admirable.

The movie got to the point where even the always bored Aomine got goosebumps by watching it. It was really intense. After that though, he began to feel sleepy and soon after, lost his consciousness.

 

* * *

 

Aomine woke up to the sound of sheet rustling next to him. He blinked his eyes open and tried to assess the situation he was in. He realized he was not in his own room but rather, in Akashi and Furihata’s room. He turned his head to side. He saw Furihata. He was asleep but it seemed that he was having a nightmare or some sort. His side of the blanket looked like it was being kicked and it was no longer covering him.

Aomine sighed, Furihata could catch a cold like that. So he got up. Just when he was about to fix the blanket, he saw Akashi got up too, still half asleep but apparently alert enough to fix the blanket so it covered Furihata completely. He then pulled Furihata closer to him and fell asleep again. It seemed that he didn’t even realized Aomine was there.

This was familiar. Or rather, he once heard a story about this. If he remembered correctly, it was told by Kise. He said Akashi was very protective of Furihata, to the point he often protected him unconsciously.

Aomine just shook his head. These two were unbelievable.

He then went back to his futon and grabbed his phone. _6 AM._ It was time to go back to his own room. So he tidied up the futon and put it back to its proper place. Slowly, as to not wake his friends, he walked to the door, slid it open, got out, and slid it close gently. It was time to go home.

 

* * *

 

At precisely 9 AM, Aomine went to the receptionist to check out. The vacation was officially over now. This one was pretty memorable, thanks to a certain two people. He felt a bit sad but somehow refreshed. He also missed his home.

On his way to the exit door he unexpectedly met Akashi again. He was alone. He held a small plastic bag on his right hand.

“Going home already?” Akashi greeted him.

Aomine nodded. “Yeah, how about you?”

“We’ll be staying here until tomorrow.”

Aomine nodded again but this time, also nudged his head toward the small plastic bag. “What’s that?”

Akashi sighed, a worry on his face. “A cooling pad. Kouki is having a slight fever. He didn’t sleep well last night apparently.”

Aomine hummed. “Kind of understandable. It was a really scary movie.”

“Was it?” Akashi just frowned.

_Did this guy even watch-_

No. No he didn’t, Aomine thought. He was probably busy staring at Furihata as per usual.

Aomine decided to change the topic. “We should play monopoly again sometimes, with the other guys.” He smiled genuinely.

Akashi lit up at that. “Sure thing. But..” he paused, and Aomine looked at him weirdly.

“The only one who can beat me is me.” He finished his sentence with a grin.

Aomine was absolutely _shook_ , before he let out a loud snort, which was followed by Akashi’s chuckle.

So much _fun._

Aomine straightened up. “I gotta go now, send my regards to Furihata, speedy recovery for him.”

Akashi smiled warmly in response. “Thank you. Be careful on your way home, Aomine.”

Aomine then gave Akashi a little wave before finally exiting the inn.

 

* * *

 

Aomine might be apathetic in general, but he liked Akashi and Furihata, and he liked their relationship. Therefore, he couldn’t help but _cared,_ and wanted them to stay together for a long, long time.

So, it seemed that he just made a special exception for the lion and the chihuahua. And he did that, _gladly._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everything about the XYZ inn is completely made up. Also, sorry for the poor description of the monopoly game, for those who never played it before, you can watch it explained on [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmZqhFO-QNE).


	7. Generation of Miracles

Generation of Miracles were extraordinary. Some people might say they were the best basketball team _ever._ A bit of an exaggeration, maybe, but honestly, no one could deny how amazing they were, especially back in their middle school days.

.. Hence, the name (because the whole thing was unreal, you know, sort of like _miracle_ ).

The members, all of them (including the infamous phantom player and the very intelligent manager) were even dubbed as _legend._ They really were that great.

.. But beyond that, beyond the basketball and the miracle and the legend stuff, Generation of Miracles were _friends._

The kind of friends who talked and met regularly. The kind of friends who never missed each other’s birthday. The kind of friends who _cared._

It was cheesy when it was put into words, but their friendship legit worked like that.

There was this saying ‘what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger’. Well, in this case, it only took a few (read: many) incidents that almost broke the said friendship, to make it stronger than ever.

Akashi Seijuurou was one of the members of Generation of Miracles. Actually, he was not just the member, he was sort of the leader, since he was the team captain.

Because of this, Akashi was probably the most respected, also the most feared, among his Miracles friends.

That didn’t mean the said friends didn't care about him. Not at all. In fact, his friends might unconsciously cared _too much_ sometimes.

They also understood how he was probably the one who had the hardest life. It really wasn’t easy being an _Akashi_ after all.

That was why, when some random, ordinary guy named Furihata Kouki managed to steal his heart, all of his friends couldn’t help but got curious and maybe, a bit cautious.

_Who is this guy? Why him? Can he make Akashi happy? Will he hurt Akashi? Is he a threat?_

There were so many questions (though the last one would always make Kuroko scoffed, _Furihata? A threat to Akashi? Are you having a laugh mate?)._ But well, they were answered over the time (and no, Furihata was definitely not a threat).

Life was a funny thing, wasn’t it. So unexpected and full of twists. And Generation of Miracles certainly didn’t expect that one day, besides Akashi, they came to care about that random, ordinary guy who stole his heart too.

 

* * *

 

“-macchi.” Midorima blinked his eyes open at that. “Midorimacchi!” someone called again, and this time, he was finally aware of his surroundings.

Apparently, he was in.. Maji Burger, in the middle of Generation of Miracles monthly get-together. It seemed that he had been dozing off for a while. He squinted his eyes and saw Akashi, Kuroko, and Momoi who sat in front of him looking genuinely concerned. He looked to his right side and found Kise worriedly gripped his arm, and on his left side were Aomine and Murasakibara—both had fries hanging from their mouths—who looked at him with frown on their faces.

Midorima sighed, and pushed his glasses up. “Sorry about that. I’m just tired from all the studying. My finals are in a couple of days.”

“What?! Already?” Aomine, who was now in the middle of slurping his soda, exclaimed in shock.

“Eh~ how come it’s so early?” Murasakibara added, seemingly agreed with what Aomine just said.

“Medical school sure is tough huh, Midorima-kun?” Kuroko commented while putting down his vanilla shake.

Before Midorima could say anything, Momoi suddenly touched his hand on the table to get his attention. “Are you okay, Midorin? I don’t know you are having exams this early, if I knew I wouldn’t suggest today to meet up.” She said, looking a little guilty.

“This is a new schedule for the third years in my school..” Midorima trailed off, “you didn’t know.”

Hearing that, Akashi chuckled, and all eyes were instantly on him. “What Midorima is trying to say is, not even his finals would prevent him to meet his beloved friends.”

It was silent for a moment before everyone (minus Midorima) started giggling and snickering. Midorima looked like he was trying so hard to suppress a groan at Akashi’s embarrassing words. “I just needed a break!” He said defensively, a light blush dusting his cheeks.

Kise threw his arms around Midorima, suddenly. “Aww Midorimacchi, we love you too!” He said, while tightening his hug.

Midorima squirmed, trying to break free. “Let go, Kise.”

“Don’t wanna!” Kise shook his head, very much amused by Midorima’s reaction.

Kuroko who saw the scene in front him, couldn’t help but smile a little. “I feel like hugging Midorima-kun too now.”

Midorima looked at him in horror and muttered. “Let’s not.. go there..”

After a while, everything calmed down a bit (and Kise finally backed off after Midorima pretty much pulled his hair out). They resumed eating their meals in silence, until Akashi spoke.

“Kouki is having his finals early as well.”

Kuroko hummed at that. “He told me about that too, is he okay? I saw him yesterday at the bookstore and he looked like uh.. a zombie.”

Akashi sighed, a worry on his face. “When I ask when was the last time he had a decent sleep, he only said, ‘sometimes when I sneeze my eyes close-’”

Aomine snorted, cutting him off. “He said that? What a legend.”

Akashi rolled his eyes at Aomine’s reaction and continued. “I’m seriously worried about him.”

Momoi was about to say something in regards to that, when something (or rather, someone) caught her eyes. She mumbled softly. “Speak of the devil,” and proceeded to wave her hand and called out excitedly. “Furihata-kun!”

Furihata, who carried a Maji Burger paper bag on his left hand and a drink on his right hand, was on his way out from the restaurant when he heard someone called his name. He turned his head and upon seeing who that was, he smiled brightly and immediately went up to the table.

“Whoaa! Generation of Miracles! No wonder the aura is very strong over here!” Furihata commented cheerfully, once he arrived at the table.

Aomine looked confused. “What the hell are you on about?”

“If the aura is strong, why didn’t you notice us sooner?” Midorima pointed out.

“Eh~ are you psychic now, Furi-chin?” Murasakibara asked.

Furihata instantly pouted as his attempt at humor was being shot down from multiple directions. “Alright guys, _damn.”_

“Kouki.” Akashi called gently, and Furihata turned his head again, his smile even more blinding than before (it was actually subtle, but the entire Generation of Miracles noticed and they still marveled at how ridiculously sweet this couple were, even after a few years of dating).

“Sei!” Furihata almost shrieked, he looked genuinely surprised to see Akashi was there, which was a bit ridiculous. Of course his boyfriend—who was pretty much the leader of the group—would be here.

He seemed to be really out of it. He was cheerful but his posture slumped, he had dark circles under his eyes, and his entire appearance was ruffled. No wonder Akashi was worried about him.

The redhead then pulled out a chair beside him and urged his boyfriend to sit. Furihata looked hesitant for a moment before he sighed, sat down, and put his things on the table.

Before anyone could say anything, Furihata pulled out a small notebook and a pen, then proceeded to write something. It looked like a math formula. A complicated one.

“Furihata, what-” Aomine began to say.

“Sshh, hold that for a moment, I just got some enlightenment.” Furihata cut him off and continued to write down some numbers and symbols.

The Generation of Miracles were silent, watching him in interest, while Akashi rubbed his back absent-mindedly. He then took one of his fries and held it in front of Furihata’s mouth. His boyfriend whose full concentration was on his notebook took the french fry without thinking.

After five minutes of total silence, Furihata put down his pen and sighed, he looked relieved somehow. He realized all of his friends were watching him the entire time and glanced to the side awkwardly. “Umm..”

“What subject is that?” Midorima asked.

“Advanced algebra.” Furihata mumbled, still feeling a bit awkward.

Momoi who was studying statistic at her uni raised her eyebrows. “You’re majoring in IT, aren’t you, Furihata-kun? IT student learns algebra too?”

Furihata nodded and chuckled bitterly. “Yeah. I hate this subject but I really need to pass. Started to think I’m going to have a mental breakdown if I fail and need to repeat this nightmare again.” He rubbed his eyes tiredly.

“I still think you need to at least _sleep_.” Akashi scolded him.

Furihata chuckled again. “I will,” he then yawned, “after this one.”

After that, Furihata unwrapped a burger he bought earlier and began eating it. He resumed writing on his notebook, and the group continued to chat about something random, albeit a little quietly as to not disturb Furihata. Akashi fed Furihata again in between his burger munching (this time onion rings), while he listened to his friends’ conversation with mild interest.

Some minutes passed, and Furihata, who already finished eating his burger, took a break to join the conversation. “I just remember, don’t you guys usually play basketball first before coming here?”

“It was raining earlier so we decided to get lunch first.” Momoi explained.

“Ah, you’re right.” Furihata nodded. He slurped his lemon tea and started writing on his notebook again.

“You coming here to get lunch too right, Furihata-kun?” Kuroko asked.

“Breakfast actually.. or should I say dinner? I haven’t eaten-” Furihata stopped abruptly, feeling a dangerous aura coming off from his side.

Akashi looked at him in utter disbelief, and Furihata ducked his head immediately, feeling sheepish. “Sorry, sorry.” He mumbled guiltily.

Akashi’s eyes slowly softened and he sighed. “Don’t do that again.”

Furihata gave him an OK sign with his hand and grinned. He then continued his study while his friends watched the interaction in amusement.

Suddenly, there was a scream and everyone’s attention immediately shifted to the source. A child dropped his ice cream and began to cry. The parents tried to calm him down but instead of getting calm, his cry was getting even louder.

Murasakibara who didn’t even spare a glance to the crying boy (because he was busy with his food, okay) noticed how Furihata shut his eyes tightly, a deep frown on his face. He put his pen down and started massaging his temples.

The purple-haired giant was not the only one who noticed this of course.

“You’re going home.” Akashi told his boyfriend.

Furihata looked at him for a moment before he nodded and began cleaning up his stuff. He got up and all eyes were on him again. “I’m going home first guys, have fun with- hey, what are you doing?” Furihata looked confusedly at Akashi, who got up too.

“I’m taking you home.” Akashi said simply.

“Oh no, there’s really no need-”

“I’m taking you home.” Akashi repeated calmly, but anyone who heard that (including Furihata) flinched anyway at the tone he was using.

Furihata sighed in defeat. He then gave a little wave to the group and went out.

“I’ll be right back.” Akashi muttered before leaving the table to follow his boyfriend.

“We’ll always be waiting for you, Akashi-kun.” Kuroko gave him a small smile.

The group then observed the couple through the window. Akashi held Furihata hand, guiding and protecting him since his boyfriend’s attention was once again on his notebook.

The group turned their heads from the window and about to converse again, when a moment later, Kise, who apparently hadn’t stopped observing the couple, gasped. “Are they kissing?”

All of them immediately looked back to the window to confirm it. It was already some distance away but it seemed that Kise was right. Akashi and Furihata was indeed kissing now, in public.

“Whoa~” Murasakibara looked in awe.

Midorima, Kuroko, and Momoi averted their eyes immediately.

Aomine scoffed. “Why are you guys so surprised about this?”

All heads snapped to Aomine. They looked at him weirdly.

“What?” Aomine raised his eyebrows. “They kiss all the time.” He shrugged nonchalantly.

Momoi blinked. “I only ever saw them kissing once though, and it was a long time ago.”

“Me too.” Kise added, “Valentine’s day when we were in our third year, right?”

Kuroko, Momoi, Midorima, and Murasakibara nodded at the same time, it looked almost comical.

“I rarely see them doing much PDA, and even if they did, it was usually subtle.” Kuroko commented.

Aomine’s eyes widened and he gulped.

Murasakibara narrowed his eyes. “You look suspicious, Mine-chin~”

Momoi pointed a finger on his childhood friend. “‘They kiss all the time’, explain this statement Dai-chan, right now, immediately.”

Aomine was silent, before he felt a nudge from his right side. Midorima was offering him his french fries, while simultaneously pushed his glasses up again. “Spill.”

Aomine was completely dumbfounded. “And here I thought you are not into gossip.”

The attention on him didn’t waver though, and Aomine could only looked nervously to the side and mumbled. “I don’t think it’s my secret to tell.”

All of his friends instantly whined at that, disappointment clear on their faces.

“Of all the times you could be wise, and you chose it to be now.” Kuroko said sarcastically.

“Shut up, Tetsu.” Aomine huffed.

 

* * *

  

Half an hour had passed when Akashi finally came back. He smiled a bit in greeting and sat down on his previous chair.

“That was fast, Akashi-kun.” Kuroko commented.

“Furihatacchi forced you to go back, didn’t he?” Kise asked him teasingly.

Hearing Kise’s words, Momoi chuckled in amusement. “I bet you wish you were with Furihata-kun right now, instead of here.” She said with a grin.

Akashi was silent before he shook his head. “That’s not true.. that’s not true at all,” he paused, looking at his friends one by one, before he gave them his most genuine smile, “and I think.. Kouki knows that too.”

At that, all of his friends couldn’t help but smiled as well.

Akashi then got up, all of sudden. “Now, shall we go to the court?” He asked excitedly.

The Generation of Miracles looked at each other, still smiling, before they all nodded, just as excited.

“Yes!”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to thank everyone who read, commented, gave kudos, and all around being wonderful to me and to this story. You have no idea how much those mean to me, seriously. Special thanks to [breedafool](http://breedafool.tumblr.com) for the immense support and for betaing some of the first few chapters.
> 
> If anyone wants to talk more about this story, or about AkaFuri in general, or about anything really, I'm on [twitter](https://twitter.com/cool_furi) and [tumblr](http://cheersallthebestgodbless.tumblr.com).
> 
> I'm happy and super grateful to be able to finish this story. Once again, thank you so much for everything. You guys are awesome!


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